Goebbels Diaries, The Last Days PDF

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DIARIES:
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EDITED AND INTRODUCED BY
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edited, introduced and annotated by
Hugh Trevor-Roper
The Goebbels Diaries

The Last Days
translated from the German by

Richard Barry
Pan Books London and Sydney

First published in Germany under the title
Joseph Goebbels, Tagebücher jg4S: Die Letzen Aufzeichnungen
© Hoffman und Campe Verlag, Hamburg 1977
First published in Great Britain 1978 by Martin Seeker & Warburg Ltd
This edition published 1979 by Pan Books Ltd,
Cavaye Place, London swio 9PG
English translation © Martin Seeker & Warburg Ltd 1978
ISBN o 330 25883 4
Reproduced, printed and boiind in Great Britain by
Cox & Wyman Ltd, Reading
This book is sold subject to the condition that it
shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold,

hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior
consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which
it is published and without a similar condition including this
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

CONTENTS
Introduction by Hugh Trevor-Roper xv

The Story of the 1945 Goebbels Diaries by Peter
Stadelmayer xxv
Translator's Note xliii
THE DIARY
Tuesday 27 February 1945 I
A talk with Hitler in the Reich Chancellery - Criticism

of Goring - Praise for Dönitz
Wednesday 28 February 1945 4

General Vlasov Goebbels - StaHn's character -
visits
Dangerous bolshevist propaganda — Goebbels Hstens
to broadcast of his speech- Comparison of the present
day with the Punic Wars and Seven Years' War
Thursday i March 1945 13
International press reaction to the Yalta Conference —

Franco a "pompous ass" - A fresh army from units of
the Replacement Army - The air war "a crazy orgy" —
"The Reich will gradually be turned into a desert" -
"To all our people's miseries that of hunger will now
be added."
Friday 2 March 1945 20

Sepp Dietrich criticises Hitler's measures - The air war
"the great tale of woe" — Some six million dwellings
totally destroyed in the Reich — Goebbels favours
stoppage of leave - Speer the right man in the right
VI CONTENTS
place— Power supply in Berlin becoming worse —

Goebbels reads memoranda by Gneisenau and
Scharnhorst about the People's War of 1808
Saturday 3 March 23
Strikes in the USA and Britain — No more evacuation

from the West — Hitler visits the Eastern Front —
Broadcast by Gauleiter Hanke from encircled Breslau
Sunday 4 March 1945 36

"A difficult problem": the reception accorded to the
AUies by the people of the occupied western regions —
Long interview with Hitler - he agrees to formation of
women's battaUons — Hitler thinks an accommodation
with Stahn possible — Goring the scapegoat — Rib-
bentrop "the Führer's evil genius"
Monday 5 March 1945 47

White Goebbels' home town of Rheydt —
flags in
German high-speed aircraft over London - Reim-
position of black-out there - Starvation in Western
Europe arouses hope — Goebbels demands weekly
defence stock-taking for Berlin - Speer now in control
of the railways - Rhine bridges blown
Tuesday 6 March 1945 54

Western miHtary experts eulogise German rearguards
- Hope placed in the U-boat war - No poUtical pros-
pects for Germany at present — Memorandum on
reform of the diplomatic service - Tito a high-grade
popular leader — Goebbels in favour of radical sim-
plification of call-up system
Wednesday 7 March 1945 65
Churchill with British troops on the Rhine — Goebbels*

pity for the "decadent bourgeois world" — no trains
held ready to evacuate OKW and OKH from Berlin —
Visit to Himmler, sick in Hohenlychen — Complaints
about the sinking morale of the troops — Hitler in
favour of evacuating high-level agencies from Berlin
CONTENTS VU
Thursday 8 March 1945 74

Churchill expects an end to the war in two months —
Details of enemy propaganda — "The Italian people is
not worthy of the Duce" - Dr Ley "not the sort of man
we want writing in the press" — Visit to Görlitz and
Lauban — Meeting with Colonel-General Schörner -
Visit to front line - Night drive home along the front

American bridgehead over the Rhine at Remagen —
Goebbels receives a "large delegation of foreign
workers with occupations in the Reich" and hopes that
they will produce a good propaganda effect — Göring's
continued retention of his offices a "sign of a latent
crisis of state" - A military victory as essential as daily
bread
Saturday 10 March 1945 92

Vexation over the behaviour of the people of Rheydt-
Preparation for action against the Oberbürgermeister
— Western correspondents report that German pris-
oners are "filled with a mystical faith in Hitler" - The
1928 class to go into action at the front — "The
Luftwaffe is not worth a row of beans" - Berlin has
eight weeks' supplies

Will Stalin allow himself to be dragged into the Pacific
adventure? - Goebbels visits Hitler - Frederick the
Great the most significant example- Sharp criticism of
Himmler - Use of terrorist groups behind the enemy
lines- Was the failure to blow the Remagen bridge due
to sabotage? - Why has the Führer formed no circle of
Gneisenaus and Schamhorsts around him?
'
Monday 12 March 1945 iii
Uninterrupted air terror makes the people thoroughly

despondent - Antagonism between the population and
the troops - Will the USA declare the Japanese
Emperor a war criminal? - Mosquitos over Berlin
CONTENTS
every evening for three weeks — The Foreign Office

resists examination by the Total War staff
StaUn's 300 Orders of the Day — "A unique calendar of

misfortune" — The German military machine largely
smashed to atoms - Pioneers prepare demolitions in
BerUn - The Führer wishes to continue evacuation in
the West - "In practice it cannot be done" — Speer bases
his criticism of Hitler's measures on Mein Kampf— The
Ministry of Propaganda falls victim to the bombs
English bishops warn against the bolshevisation of

Europe - Stahn fetes Soviet Marshals like film stars —
Dr Ley's memoranda on reorganisation of the
Wehrmacht — Speer considers the war lost econom-
ically — No doubt about the "possibiÜty of victory for
our cause" - Neither Ley nor Speer possesses a states-
manlike view — Mistaken methods of command the
cause of German defeats - the Führer should not reason
but command
Starvation in enemy-occupied regions - Soviet mili-

tary leaders' background superior to that of the Ger-
mans - Systematic fresh propaganda to the troops on
the Western and Eastern Fronts - Rosenberg unwilling
to disband his Ministry for the East — "Sheer non-
sense" — Hitler wishes "so to reform the Wehrmacht
that it will emerge from the war fundamentally
National-Sociahst"

Churchill insists on unconditional surrender - Armis-
tice rumours - Ribbentrop tries to contact the British
in Stockholm - Great reception for the press in Goeb-
bels' house - 20,000 men for the jet fighter programme
or as a Rail Transport Defence Brigade? — Deep-seated
lethargy among the German people — Press con-
ferences should take place more frequently in future
CONTENTS IX
"Herr von Ribbentrop's peace soundings have been a

total failure" — "The enemy's thirst for destruction has
now reached extraordinary heights" - Churchill the
Herostratus of Europe - Benes in Moscow — A series of
acts of sabotage and assassinations in Norway — The
stupidity of so-called prominent people
"A solitary piece of good news" — the collapse of the

Rhine bridge at Remagen - The front-line situation
horrifying both in East and West - Heavy air raid on
Berlin — Telephone conversation with Hitler — Evacu-
ation of Kolberg not to be mentioned in the OKW
report since the propaganda film Kolberg is running in
the cinemas
The Saar territory nearly lost - Churchill "about

as well suited to our century as a dinosaur" -
Upheavals in Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary and
Rumania — Orsenigo, the Papal Nuncio, shrugs his
shoulders - The Luftwaffe's luxury in personnel and
material — Over-bureaucratisation of the Foreign
Service - Situation increasingly critical in Danzig
and East Prussia - The Führer receives Hitler Youth
winners of the Iron Cross
The food crisis everywhere is reaching an intolerable

level — "How will the Soviets treat the German people
hands on them?" - Switzerland breaks off all
if they lay
economic relations with the Reich - Goring shoots a
bison for the benefit of refugees — The Luftwaffe
should relinquish three-quarters of its personnel —
Soviet assault on Berlin imminent

"The worse things are for us militarily, the more will
the peoples of the continent reaÜse that a new order in
CONTENTS
Europe is only possible under German leadership" —

353,000 air raid casualties in Germany to date - With
Hitler in the Reich Chancellery - A Russian negotiator
in Stockholm? — Hitler's great hope — the new jet
aircraft
Thursday 22 March 1945

"The Anglo-Americans have good reason to think
at the height of their triumph" — "My war
themselves
propaganda is now being eulogised quite openly in
London" — Graf Schwerin von Krosigk pleads for a
positive Russian policy - Hitler wants the threatened
western regions evacuated in all circumstances
Friday 23 March 1945

British and American aircraft already taking off from
German - nineteen million people rehoused
airfields
to date - Severe criticism of the Reichsbahn -
Decentralisation of the armaments industry has many
disadvantages — Criticism of Adolf Hitler increasing
continuously - Enemy propaganda getting the upper
hand - Own propaganda having a difficult time
Saturday 24 March 1945
British troops cross the Rhine on a broad front —

Churchill present — Gauleiter Koch reports on the
desperate situation in East Prussia - Searches for deser-
ters on leave trains — The National-Socialist Lead-
ership Organisation under new management - Graf
Schwerin von Krosigk suggests Carl J. Burckhardt
and Salazar as mediators between Germany and the
West
Sunday 25 March 1945

The Anglo-Americans' victory will be a Pyrrhic
victory - Spring in Berlin starts with lovely weather
and an air-raid alert - "where will things come to rest
in the end?" — State Secretary Naumann reports on
morale in southern Germany - Hitler gives Goebbels
fuU powers to streamline the Luftwaffe's organisation
CONTENTS XI
"We are poor folk and have only limited resources

with which to oppose the enemy" — Severe loss of
authority by the Führer - The Werwolf movement -
Troops from Berlin for the Eastern front - The
East-West Axis to be used as a runway - The new
Wochenschau "makes one heavy at heart" - Hitler
should speak over the radio - "it would be as good as a
victorious battle today"

"Our anti-bolshevist campaign" recon-
atrocity
solidated the Eastern Front — "Very highly coloured
anti-Anglo-American propaganda" should improve
morale in the West - Dr Ley wishes to set up a Free
Corps — The Finance Minister's tax reform is anti-
social — Long talk with Hitler - On Hitler's orders
Himmler has to remove armbands from the SS for-
mations in Hungary - A presentiment of doom among
the Führer's entourage - Hitler criticises Speer

Enemy public relations policy "extraordinarily
adroit" - The Western Allies' supply problems -
"German partisans" shoot the Oberbürgermeister of
Aachen — Dissatisfaction with the Werwolf organ-
isation — Walter Lippmann criticises the Morgenthau
Plan - Revival of the U-boat war - Some four million
refugees on the move — "Only a speech by the Führer
can bring the people back to order"
A "frenzy of rejoicing" in the enemy camp — Stock

exchange boom in German - Churchill's
securities
1935 essay on Hitler- Defeatism among the Japanese
in BerUn - "News of starvation and epidemics from
every quarter" — Fascism in Italy totally impotent —
Revolutionary language required for the Werwolf —
Thirty Party speakers despatched to the West - The
"drone-like parasitical existence" of prominent artists
Xll CONTENTS

Spaak, the Belgian Foreign Minister, opposed to dis-
memberment of the Reich - "A horrible Good Friday"
— Despite criticism from Hitler Speer achieves some
mitigation of the Führer's decree for destruction of
economic installations — Saur, Speer's associate, high
in Führer's favour — The Reich Press Officer sent on
leave —Julius Streicher to be employed with the Wer-
wolf — Hitler's "totally incomprehensible aversion to
the microphone"
Hopes of the German war - Ribbentrop's

partisan
peace soundings a diplomatic faux pas — Gerhart
Hauptmann on the Dresden air-raids - People are con-
vinced that the war is lost - Did treachery play a part in
developments in the West? — "Fundamental" reform
of the radio and radicalisation of the news service —
Hitler's dramatic clash with Goring
Sunday i April 1945 292
Recourse must be had to political means to counter the

desperate military situation- From the enemy point of
view Ribbentrop "not a high-class diplomatic rep-
resentative" - "The saddest Easter Day in my life" —
The OKW Liaison Officer taken to task for defeatism
Monday 2 April 1945 297
A German opposition government set up by the
enemy powers "would give us a lot of trouble" —
American service of thanksgiving in the ruins of Köln
cathedral - American public opinion roused by the
secret Yalta agreements — Poor prospects for the San
Francisco Conference — The Americans in Eisenach
Tuesday 3 April 1945 301
Loss of confidence among the people owing to the

behaviour of senior Party functionaries in the West —
"Eisenhower is acting like a new German Kaiser - A
clear news policy should reestabUsh overall war
CONTENTS XUl
morale - Goebbels' Six-Point directive for the German

press — "Bormann has turned the Party Chancellery
into a paper factory"
Saturday 7 April 1945 311
Sensational article in the Schwarze Korps — Ribbentrop

visits the trenches on the Oder front — Field Marshal
Smuts warns of a third world war - Devastating con-
sequences of the punishment of the SS divisions in
Austria-Hungary - Suicide fighters in action for the
first time - Bakeries in BerÜn looted - Goebbels
demands courts martial - Hope that the Führer will
"get the better of the situation"
Sunday 8 April 1945 319

Change of mood in London — Western war reporters
send in gloomy reports from Germany — The German
gold reserves captured by the Americans in the salt
mines of Thuringia - "There is no strong hand" — New
government in Japan — The AUies in dispute over
Poland — Action by suicide fighters disappointing —
Severe fighting in the centre of Vienna -Heavy attacks
on Königsberg
Monday 9 April 1945 325

Military situation
Annexes: 3 29
1 Adolf Hitler's proclamation to the people of Berlin on
22 April 1945.
2 Letter from Dr Joseph Goebbels to Harald Quandt.
3 Letter from Magda Goebbels to Harald Quandt.
4 Appendix by Goebbels to Hitler's will.
5 Official announcement of the death of Hitler.
Chronology 333
Gazetteer 341
Place Index 345
Name Index 357
INTRODUCTION
Hugh Trevor-Roper
Joseph Goebbels has been described as "the only really interesting

man in the Third Reich beside Hitler". The other Paladins of
Nazism who, like him, were with the Führer from beginning to end
- Goring, Himmler, Bormann, Ley- were made by Hitler's power.
In themselves they were, at best, commonplace men. Without
them. Hitler and Nazism would probably have been the same, for
substitutes would have been found. Goebbels was dif-
ferent. Although he needed Hitler in order to rise, he also contributed
significantly to Hitler's power. He transformed his image, gave
him public appeal, his charisma. He also sought to perpetuate that
appeal for posterity. He set out to predetermine the future history of
Nazism, its myth. Even after its complete failure, historians will still
have to contend with that myth.
To those who lived through the years of Nazism, Goebbels will
always be remembered as Hitler's "Minister for Propaganda and
Enlightenment", the unscrupulous propagandist whose shameless
brilliance as a mob orator and a manipulator of the news vindicated
the statement of Hitler, in Mein Kampf, that the greater the lie, the
more chance it had of being beUeved. First as a demagogic speaker at
Party functions, then as an organiser of censorship and propaganda,
fmally as master of the media throughout the Reich, he saw to it that
nothing was heard or seen on party platforms, on the radio, in the
cinema, or in the press, except what he judged useful for immediate
political purposes. Moreover, this uniform propaganda, dis-
seminated at every level and through all the media, was not dull and
predictable. Though crude and violent in form, utterly unscrupu-
lous in substance, and quite indifferent to truth, it was managed
with an agility and a sophistication which exorted a reluctant
XVI INTRODUCTION
admiration even from its enemies and its victims. There was nothing
dead or mechanical about it: with its un-German clarity, its accurate
assessment of the potentialities of the medium, the need of the
moment, and the taste of the audience, it became a deadly and flexible
instrument of power. In this it accurately reflected the mind of its
director. Goebbels was an impresario of genius, the first man to
realise the full potentiahties of mass media for poHtical purposes in a
dynamic totalitarian state.
But if this was the public image of Goebbels in his Hfetime, it does
not represent the sum of his contribution to Nazism. His impor-
tance was greater than this. He was also an efficient administrator, a
radical political adviser to Hitler, and, to historians, animportant
(though dangerous) source.
Perhaps the best account of Goebbels' services to the Nazi
movement was given by himself On 12 December 1941, when
victory on all fronts stiU seemed likely, Goebbels told his assistants
in the Ministry of Propaganda that he had vitally strengthened that
movement in four decisive ways. First, as leader of the National
Socialists in Rhine and Ruhr, he had converted Nazism from a
middle-class nationaUst movement, based on Munich, into a Social-
ist working-class party, able to capture and hold the workers of the
industrial Rhineland. Secondly, he had won Berlin and thereby

prepared the way for the "seizure of power" in the Reich; for
"without control of Berlin the Party would have remained a pro-
vincial movement." Thirdly, he had worked out the style and
technique of the Party's public ceremonies: the mass demon-
strations, the marches with standards, the ritual of the great Party
occasions. Anyone, he remarked, could measure that achievement
by comparing the annual commemorative gatherings in the beer-
cellar at Munich with the giant demonstrations in the Sportpalast in
BerUn. Finally, he had created the "myth" of the Führer. He had
given to Hitler "the halo of infallibility", the charisma which
enabled him to rise above the Party and be "the Führer", blindly
followed by the German people.*
• Rudolf Semler, Goebbels, The Man next to Hitler (1947) p. 56. I have not hesitated
to citeSemler as a source in spite of Mr David Irving's judgment {Hitler's War, p.
xx) that his diaries are "phony". Mr Irving bases this judgment on one entry — an
account of a visit by Hitler to the Goebbels family on 12 January 1945 — which is
clearly misdated in the printed text. Sender's dates are not always rehable, but his
matter remains valid. The visit itself is confirmed by Werner Naumann, who was
there (Roger Manvell and Heinrich Fraenkel, Dr Goebbels, i960,Other
p. 262).
entriesby Semler have been confirmed in detail by documents unavailable at the
time of publication, including the Goebbels Diaries. In my opinion Semler's notes
are authentic, although perhaps not kept in diary form.
INTRODUCTION
It is complacent claim by Goebbels. That

difficult to fault this
lucid mind, which seldom unconsciously deceived, was accurate
even in self-perception. To the end, he could distinguish the objec-
tive truth from his own propaganda. To the end, he combined
fanaticism with detachment: a poUtically calculated fanaticism with
an intellectual detachment. That indeed is why his propaganda was
so effective.
The character of Goebbels is clearly revealed by his early history,
a vital part of which is illustrated by his personal diary: for through-
out his life he was a compulsive diarist. A Rhinelander, the son of
devout Catholic parents from the lower middle class, handicapped
from childhood by a club-foot, he showed early intellectual
promise and acquired - thanks to a Catholic charitable organisation
- a university education. He had intellectual and literary ambitions,
and at first sought self-expression by writing novels and plays, in
which however there is no substance, only self-idealisation, roman-
tic attitudes - and a streak of nihilism. Failing to make any mark at
the university, blaming the Jewish monopoly for his inability to

prosper in literature, he toyed with one political credo after another
and then, early in 1925, joined the Nazi Party in the Rhineland. That
branch of the Party was controlled by the most radical of the early
Nazi leaders, Gregor Strasser.
Goebbels was in one sense always true to his origins. He was
always a radical in the Party, and there remained always in him a
recurrent streak of nihilism, arising, originally, from hatred of the
society around him and from a certain inner emptiness: for he was a
man of postures, not ideas or beliefs. However, he had also another
characteristic, which would also serve him well: opportunism.
With his complete freedom from conviction, and his remarkable
mental agility, he was able to anticipate events and change course
with great dexterity and to justify the change by nimble arguments.
An occasion to exercise these gifts arose within a year of his joining
the Party. It was to have a decisive influence on his career.
The matter at issue was the compensation or the expropriation of
the HohenzoUern princes. The Munich party, led by Hitler, who
had been chastened by the failure of his 1923 Putsch, urged com-
pensation; the Rhineland party, led by Strasser, demanded exprop-
riation. The battle became fierce, and Goebbels committed himself
entirely to Strasser's camp. He attacked the Munich party, and
Hitler personally, in violent terms. At one time he is said to have
demanded that "the petty bourgeois Adolf Hitler be expelled from
the Nazi Party". However, at a meeting at Bamberg, Goebbels was
won over by Hitler and soon he would dramatise his conversion, or
XVlll INTRODUCTION
apostasy. Hitler would become, to him, "the creative instrument of

Fate and Deity", a man who had "everything to be King", "a born
tribune of the people, the coming dictator". From now on, Goeb-
bels would be faithful to Hitler, building up his image as the man of
destiny. Hitler, and the of Hitler, would supply him with the
cult
central ideal, the necessary conviction which was lacking in his own
mentality, and around which the brilliant impresario could organise
the ritual of devotion. For Hitler was power, and Goebbels, as his
biographers have written, "was always loyal to power".* Gregor
Strasser he would leave to be murdered, with his fellow "radicals",
in the great purge of 30 Tune 1934.
Goebbels was rewarded for his "apostasy" by being made
Gauleiter of Berlin, and this office he held to the end, for nearly
twenty years. An able and vigorous administrator, he soon captured
the capital for Nazism. He did so by his usual combination of
ruthlessness and skill He purged the local party, streamlined the
administration, and maintained Nazi power in the city by effective
propaganda, frightening demonstrations of power and unscrupul-
ous persecution of chosen scapegoats. At first he had affected not to
wish for the post; but he was too intelligent not to see its value.
"Whoever can conquer the streets," he wrote, "will one day con-
quer the State, for every form of power politics and any dictatorially
run state has its roots in the streets." Besides, in the jungle of the
Nazi Party, Berlin was a great fief: whoever ruled it could hold his
own against any other of the great feudatories. By combining it
with the command of the media, which he used to denigrate and
destroy those who resisted his power, he had — at least during the
years of struggle, the "Kampfzeit" - a stronger base than any of
them.
Once in control of the Party in Berhn, Goebbels never allowed
that control to slacken. He reinforced it by continual demon-
strationsand organised, almost ceremonial violence. "We cannot
have enough of demonstrations," he wrote, "for that is far and
away the most emphatic way of demonstrating one's will to gov-
ern." Some of his demonstrations were notorious: the funeral of
Horst Wessel, a radical Nazi student killed in a brawl in 1930; the
exploitation of the Reichstag Fire in February 1933; the barbarous
ceremony of "the burning of the books" on 10 May 1933; and, on 9
November 1938, the so-called Kristallnacht, an allegedly "spon-
taneous" outburst of anti-semitism in which the windows of all
Jewish shops in Berlin were smashed - with disastrous financial
* Manvell and Fraenkel, op. cit., p. 134.

INTRODUCTION XIX
consequences to good Aryan insurance companies. Some of these

demonstrations were counter-productive: the burning of the books
outraged foreign opinion at a time when it was being wooed, and
the Kristallnacht was deplored by other Nazi leaders, like Himmler,
who wanted silent elimination of the Jews, not spectacular pog-
roms. But Goebbels never lost Hitler's support as Gauleiter. In 1942
Hitler paid a notable tribute to his achievement. Goebbels, he
wrote, was the man for whom he had long been waiting; he was the
ideal man for that difficult task; he had "worked Uke an ox" to
destroy opposition; "I have never regretted giving him the powers
he asked for. When he started, he found nothing particularly
efficient as a political organisation to help him; nevertheless, in the
literal sense of the word, he captured Berlin."*
In the autumn of 1939, when Hitler prepared to launch his war,
Goebbels was among those who sought to avert it. As he had no
positive ideals. Hitler's vast plans of Eastern empire made no special
appeal to him: it was not for them that he had joined the Party.
Albert Speer tells us that "we who were members of Hitler's
personal circle considered him, as well as Goering, who also coun-
selled peace, as weakHngs who had degenerated in the luxury of
power and did not want to risk the privileges they had acquired, "t
Moreover, with the outbreak of war, Goebbels' position necessarily
shrank. Hitler himself (we are told) declared that, for the duration of
the war, the Propaganda Minister must be kept in the background, t
Of course Berlin still had to be controlled and propaganda still had
to be made. But military victory ensured the loyalty of Berlin and
spoke louder than any propaganda. In those years of victory, there-
fore, Goebbels ceased to make the pace. He became a mere com-
mentator, carried with the tide. In his radio programmes, his
victory films, his own paper Der Angriff, and his regular leading
articles in the Party organ Das Reich, he celebrated the triumph of
German arms, ridiculed the enemy, and built up the picture of
Hitler,not now as a revolutionary leader but as a national hero, the
reincarnation of Frederick the Great, "the greatest war-lord of all
time". He also organised victory parades and enjoyed a hfe of
feverish activity as the advertiser, friend and counsellor of the
dictator whose frequent dilettantism and uncertainty he did so
much to disguise.
Goebbels' routine as propagandist during the war is shown by the
minutes of the regular, almost daily conferences in which he gave
* Hitler's Table Talk (ed. H. Trevor-Roper, 1953), p. 532.
t Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich (1970), pp. 162-3.

t Alfred Rosenberg, Politische Tagebuch, 3 September 1939.
INTRODUCTION
directives to his officials. As a minister, his activity was incessant.

Constant action was a psychological necessity to him - again, it
seems, an escape from inner emptiness - and no detail was too small
for his attention. Often he laid down his general rules. "The fun-
damental principle of all propaganda," he declared, was "the repeti-
tion of effective arguments"; but those arguments must not be too
refmed — there was no point in seeking to convert the intellectuals.
For intellectuals would never be converted and would anyway
always yield to the stronger, "and this will always be the man in the
street".* Arguments must therefore be crude, clear and forcible,
and appeal to emotions and instincts, not to the intellect. Truth was
unimportant, and entirely subordinate to tactics and psychology,
but convenient lies ("poetic truth", as he once called them) must
always be made credible. In accordance with these general direc-
tives, precise instructions were issued. Hatred and contempt must
be directed at particular individuals; only such expressions were to
be used as would generate the required emotion; specific Ues were
to be disseminated. These instructions were mandatory: officials
who failed to follow them were regularly threatened with the
concentration camp.
Meanwhile Goebbels sought to ensure that the exigencies and
distractions of war did not weaken his influence at court. Here he
had one great advantage, for although never one of Hitler's intimate
circle, he was closer to him than any other of the old guard of
Nazism. Hitler used Goring, Bormann, Himmler, but he was never
familiar with them, never relaxed in their company or revealed to
them his unguarded thoughts. He saw himself as a universal genius,
an artist as well as a statesman, and he was impatient of that
philistine, froth-blowing, class-bound world of early Nazism.
Hence his affection for Speer, his architect, who, because of his
"artistic" interests, could claim to be his only friend. Among politi-
cians, Goebbels, with his command over the media, came closest to
Speer. He could supply Hitler with films and fdm-actresses, he
could talk of art and music, and, like Speer, he came from an
educated background. It was he who, externally at least, had raised
Hitler above the vulgar level of his first associates in the beer-halls of
Munich. In fact, of course, Goebbels was not a cultivated man. He
had no aesthetic interests. He burned the German classics and
destroyed "decadent" art. He closed the Berlin theatres during the
war. He was indifferent to the State Opera. He never went to
concerts. His tastes were as banal and trivial as those of Hitler
* Manvcll & Fraenkel, op. cit., pp. 14, 24, 294.

INTRODUCTION XXI
himself. But to Hitler he counted as an intellectual. Besides, Hitler

liked presentable, admiring women. Frau Goebbels was an elegant
woman from a rich family; she worshipped Hitler; and Hitler was
glad to have her worship. Hitler had been best man at Goebbels'
marriage, and when that marriage nearly broke down owing to
Goebbels' numerous amours with actresses and secretaries. Hitler
positively forbade divorce and personally imposed a reconciliation.
In private life, Goebbels again separated himself from the other
old Nazis and sought to advertise his superior character as an
intellectual. He was fastidious in his dress, wore well-cut clothes,
and kept a huge wardrobe. His palatial residence near the Bran-
denburg Gate in Berlin and his villa at Schwanenwerder on the
Wannsee were luxuriously furnished; but the luxury was combined
with a certain austerity. He hated the gross display of opulence made
by some of the Party bosses, and particularly by that greatest of
vulgarians undfaux bonhommes, "the Reich Marshal", Hermann Gor-
ing, whose extravagance of dress and gluttony for material things only
aggravated, in Goebbels' eyes, his crime of inefficiency as
Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe. Goebbels' outward life, was,
by contrast, almost puritanically simple. The frugality of his enter-
tainment was notorious, and much resented by his officials who
expected something better from their tyrannical and exacting master.
This very austerity was to serve him well and to provide him
with a programme in the later years of the war. The earlier years had
been the years of victorious Blitzkrieg, when all Germany grew fat
on the spoils of Europe and Goring stacked his palaces with the
most priceless treasures and the costliest wines looted from the
conquered West. But after the winter of 194 1 the conditions of war
changed, and by the end of 1942 it was clear that the years of easy
victory were over. Germany had now roused against itself a world
coaUtion. Its armies were on the defensive on three fronts. They had
been defeated in Africa, halted in Russia, and feared invasion in the
West. Then came the disaster at Stalingrad: the encirclement and, in
the end, the capture of the entire 6th Army, whose generals, to make
the disgrace even more bitter, instead of committing suicide accord-
ing to their instructions, surrendered and, in captivity, became
propagandists for the Russians, broadcasting to the German troops
and urging universal surrender. This was a great humiliation to the
master propagandist in BerUn: a humihation made worse by the fact
that victory at Stahngrad had been confidently predicted and elabo-
rate arrangements had been made to celebrate its fall.
The disasters of the winter of 1942-43, which transformed the
character of the war, brought Goebbels back into the forefront of
XXU INTRODUCTION
German politics. Hitherto much of his energy had been devoted to

the suppression rather than the pubHcation of the radical doctrines
and policies which he secretly favoured, and his instructions to his
own were often negative. The euthanasia programme, for
officials
instance, was never to be mentioned by the media. The war against
the Church, unseasonably pressed by the fanatical anti-Christian
Martin Bormann, was to be put off till after victory. The Final
Solution of the Jewish Problem, which Goebbels himself sup-
ported, "whatever the cost", was similarly under a strict taboo. And
it was hardly possible to make propaganda to the Russian people by
describing German war aims in the East since those war aims were
simply conquest, extermination and exploitation. As Goebbels
himself remarked with cynical candour, even the German people
would never have voted for the Nazis if it had known what they
intended to do. However, the disasters of the second Russian winter
marked a change. Damaged by defeat, the Party leadership had to
reassert itself and command new efforts by the German people.
This return to the spirit of the Kampfzeit gave the minister a new
opportunity to deploy his old arts and to raise his old voice: the arts
of the impresario, the virtuoso master of ceremonies; the voice of
radicalism, nihilism, destruction.
For a long time Goebbels had been the prophet of "total war".
Unlike Hitler, who remained emotionally wedded to the concept of
the Blitzkrieg and who had never envisaged, or prepared for, a long
struggle, Goebbels, with the absolutism of the intellectual, retained
a lifelong preference for radical measures and had advocated, in
particular, the mobilisation of women. Periodically he had con-
vinced Hitler, but always, when his back was turned. Hitler had
relapsed into his old habit. Now, in defeat, Goebbels saw his chance.
He returned to the attack. Hitler was by this time entirely sur-
rounded by a "Committee of Three" consisting of Bormann,
Lammers and Keitel — which meant, effectively, Bormann; but in
December 1942 Goebbels broke through this ring and submitted a
memorandum to Hitler proposing measures of total mobilisation.
In the exigency of the time. Hitler approved the memorandum and
next month signed a decree accordingly.
Goebbels now threw himself into action. He saw Stalingrad as
Germany's Dunkirk and he tried to rouse in Germany the same
spirit as Churchill had roused in Britain after Dunkirk. "At that
time," Goebbels declared, "Winston Churchill displayed admirable
frankness in drawing the necessary conclusions and telling the
British people the absolute truth. At the time, we did not under-
stand this" — and indeed, he did not, for at that time he had ordered
INTRODUCTION
all broadcasts to Britain to be prefaced by the "catchy slogan",

"Churchill is a fool" - but with these tactics Churchill had aroused
the nation. Now
Nazi Germany must do the same. Only, he added,
we must not seem to be imitators: "Churchill's slogan of 'blood,
sweat and tears' must not be taken up: we must think of a slogan of
our own."*
It is pleasant to see the great master of the Ue suddenly dis-
covering the tactical advantages of "absolute truth". Goebbels' first

appUcation of this novel doctrine was a frank admission of the
catastrophic nature of the German defeat. On 3 February 1943, he
ordered three days of national remembrance for Stalingrad. All
places of entertainment were to be shut, and there was to be a
complete standstill of traffic for one minute on the first and last day.
There was to be no mourning, no sentimentality, only a dignified
and resolute devotion to further effort. Goebbels even ordered —
again a new departure - that the press should not pubUsh cartoons
which belittle the enemy: "we have no reason at the present
moment to portray our opponents as being smaller than in fact they
are."t
Meanwhile Goebbels was exploiting to the fuU Hitler's decree
ordering "the extreme totaHsation of the war which he, the minis-
ter, has been demanding for the past eighteen months." On 18
February he mounted a great demonstration in the Sportpalast in
Berhn. He himself made one of his most famous speeches, in which
he demanded even greater efforts and promised that blood, sweat
and tears (though not of course in those words) would bring ulti-
mate victory. In the course of the speech he gave vent to the usual
hysterical radicaUsm. Speer, who was there, afterwards said that he
had never seen an audience so effectively roused to fanaticism.
Goebbels pulled out all the old stops and screamed abuse at the Jews
who, he declared, were behind all Germany's enemies. ImpUcitly,
he also used his opportunity to show his rivals at court that he could
direct against them the terrible engine of a fanatical mob. At the
cHmax of the speech, he posed ten carefully prepared questions and
extracted (with the aid of canned applause on gramophone records)
a hideous chorus of rhythmical assent. After his speech, he was
carried shoulder-high from the hall; then he relaxed in the company
of Albert Speer who was ultimately to be the effective organiser of
the total war of which Goebbels was merely the trumpeter. To
Speer's astonishment, Goebbels quietly and complacently analysed,
as a purely technical exercise, the speech which, at the time, had
• 77ie Goebbels Diaries, ed. P. Lochner (1948), 322.
p.
t Ibid., p. 329.
INTRODUCTION
seemed a spontaneous emotional outburst. Even at his most fanat-

ical,Goebbels was always the dispassionate realist, observing, with
detached, professional expertise, the effect of his own carefully
*
rehearsed mob-oratory.
Having thus whipped up the radicalism of the masses, Goebbels
turned, by natural instinct, to acts of destruction. As Gauleiter of
Berlin, he ordered the closure of all expensive restaurants. This
predictably, led to a clash with Goring, who was a regular patron,
and protector, of the most famous and luxurious of such restaur-
ants, Horcher's in the Lutherstrasse. Goring attempted to exempt
Horcher's from what he called "the crazy Goebbels regulations",
and provided a guard to defend the place. Thereupon Goebbels
organised a "spontaneous" demonstration. The windows of the
restaurant were smashed; Goebbels refused the proprietor's request
for police protection, and after long and bitter recriminations Gor-
ing was obliged to yield - for a time. This minor "Kristallnacht"
was Goebbels' one concrete contribution to the "totalisation of the
war".
Like so many of his gestures, it was ill-timed; for precisely at this
moment Goebbels needed, or thought that he needed, the help of
Goring. In the excitement generated by the new programme of total
war, Goebbels and Speer, now closely allied ("Speer is entirely
mine," wrote Goebbels) believed that, with Göring's help, they
might displace Bormann's "kitchen cabinet", the Committee of
Three. Goebbels himself had hopes of replacing Ribbentrop, the
asinine Foreign Minister whom Hitler persisted in regarding as a
second Bismarck. So, for a few weeks, there was a buzz of high-
powered intrigue. In the interest of the new alliance, the Horcher
affair was redressed: the restaurant was reopened as a Luftwaffe club
under the high patronage of the Reich Marshal as Commander-
in-Chief; and Goebbels suddenly found himself praising Göring's
open-hearted geniality. "His dress," he admitted, "is somewhat
baroque, and would, if one did not know him, strike one as almost
laughable. But that's the way he is, and one must put up with his
idiosyncrasies; they sometimes even have a charm about them. "t
The attempt by Speer and Goebbels to use Goring and oust
Bormann from the centre of power was a complete failure. In fact,
as Speer afterwards discovered, it had been doomed from the start,
for Bormann had already seduced Goring with a gift of six million
marks from Party funds. So Goring sank back into his usual self-
* Speer, op. cit., p. 257.

t The Goebbels Diaries, p. 197.
INTRODUCTION XXV
indulgent lethargy, from which (as Speer writes) "he only awoke at
Nuremberg". Goebbels had to admit defeat and settle for a modus
vivendi with Bormann. It was an uneasy settlement: Goebbels pri-
vately referred to Bormann as "a primitive OGPU type"; but in
view of Bormann's absolute control over access to Hitler it was a
necessity; and Goebbels kept it, reluctantly, to the very end.
However Goebbels did not give up his ambitions of greater
pohtical power and, with each new misfortune he tried to reassert
the necessity of greater radicalism in all things, and of himself as the
director of it. In pursuit of such aims he was forced into alliance not
only with the hated Bormann but also with the equally hated
Reichsfiihrer of the SS, Heinrich Himmler. Being himself, in his
own view, "a man of fine feeling", Goebbels could not bear the
"inartistic" Himmler, with his "Asiatic" slanting eyes, his short fat
fingers, his dirty nails.* Still, he was attracted by the radicalism and
the brutality of that terrible ogre who had built (as he remarked)
"the greatest power organisation that one can imagine"; he
approved whole-heartedly of the extermination of the Jews which
Himmler was so efficiently carrying out; and he followed his own
infallible nose for power. By July 1943 Goebbels went so far as to
urge Hitler to replace Goring as Commander-in-Chief of the
Luftwaffe - only to incur a rebuff: to his disgust. Hitler absolutely
refused to dismiss his old comrade.
As the war news worsened - when the Allies invaded Italy and
Mussolini was overthrown - Goebbels even turned against Hitler
himself. As in 1925, he began again to think that "the petty
bourgeois Adolf Hitler" was not radical enough, and he blamed
himself for having buut up his image and created the legend of his
infallibility. One of his assistants noted that he now mentioned the
Führer less often. "He feels himself superior to Hitler: he cannot
admit any longer the sole and unconditional authority of a man
whom he himself made great. " He no longer thought Hitler capable
of mastering the difficulties of the time, and regularly sighed that "if
I were the Führer", things would be different. Rumours were put
about that he was to be Vice-Chancellor or Prime Minister. How-

ever, this mood did not last. As in 1925, Hitler's powerful per-
sonality, and Goebbels' own inner emptiness, would once again
bring him round. He needed an object of devotion and could not
long reject the idol he had made. So, as the clouds gathered more
thickly around its base, he would build up the image of the Führer
higher than ever, to tower above them.
* Semler, op. cit., p. 96.
XXvi INTRODUCTION
This psychological process was described by one of Goebbels'

assistants. "Whenever Goebbels goes to Hitler's headquarters,"
wrote Rudolf Semler, "he starts off full of distrust of the Führer's
genius, full of irritation, criticism and hard words. Each time he is
determined to tell Hitler just what he thinks. What happens in their
talks, I don't know; but every time that Goebbels returns from these
visits, he is full of admiration for the Führer and exudes an optimism
which infects us all."
The pohtical post which Goebbels coveted for himself most of all
was of Foreign Minister, and in April 1944 he once again sought
that
to attainit. By now he despaired of winning the war and looked to
diplomacy to save something from the wreck. But on which front,

he asked, could peace be made? Since Churchill and Roosevelt
seemed implacable, he argued that attempts should be made to buy
off Russia. He therefore wrote a forty-page memorandum urging a
return to the position of 1939-40 under the Nazi-Soviet Pact, and
submitted it to Hitler. In the present parlous conditions, when the
Ufe of Germany was at stake, it would be wrong, he said, to let
ideology lead us into ruin, and he proposed to surrender to Russia
all Eastern Europe from North Norway to Greece inclusive. So
radical a change in foreign pohcy, he admitted, would entail

changes at the Foreign Office. Ribbentrop, as the man responsible
for Germany's present diplomatic isolation, must go. Goebbels
then assured Hitler of his own disinterested loyalty and offered to
shoulder the heavy burden of this daring experiment in foreign
*
policy.
Having submitted his memorandum, he waited anxiously for a
the Führer's Headquarters. It was strangely delayed.
call to When it
did come, Hitler never mentioned the memorandum. Finally
Goebbels asked him about it. "What memorandum?" asked Hitler.
After a search, it was found, buried in Bormann's in-tray, t Bor-
mann had suppressed it because it was contrary to Party doctrine.
Hitler was committed to a policy of Eastern conquest and could
hardly be expected to go suddenly into reverse. Goebbels, who was
committed to no doctrine, was capable of greater flexibility. To the
very end he would be willing to make peace — of a kind — with
Russia rather than with the West; but to the very end Ribbentrop
would remain Foreign Minister of the Reich.
Three months later Goebbels made another, and this time a
decisive, intervention in politics. On 20 July 1944 a group of con-
spirators in the Army General Staff sought to assassinate Hitler by
* Semler, op. cit, pp. 119-121.

t Ibid, pp. 122-3.
INTRODUCTION
placing a bomb under the conference table at his headquarters at

Rastenburg in East Prussia. The attempt failed, but the conspirators
went ahead: they announced his death and in the confusion which
followed they might still have succeeded in seizing power in Berhn.
The crucial moment came when a crack regiment of guards was
ordered to cordon off the Ministries of the Reich and effectively
imprison the government. The commander of the regiment, Major
Remer, a loyal Nazi, had his doubts and took the precaution of
making contact with the Gauleiter, Goebbels. Goebbels informed
him that Hitler was alive and then, to prove that this time he was
telling the truth, telephoned to the Führer's Headquarters. Hitler
spoke personally to Remer and told him to place himself under
Himmler's orders and suppress the revolt ruthlessly. From that
moment, the revolt was doomed. Goebbels himself addressed the
troops in his office garden. Remer accepted his new duties with
alacrity and led his troops to capture not the Reich government but
the War Ministry, the headquarters of the conspirators. By the
evening all was over. Goebbels' prompt action had saved the day,
and Nazism itself, for another nine months.
It also enabled Goebbels to gratify once again his taste for revenge
and destruction. That same night he turned his house into "a prison,
headquarters and court rolled into one"; Goebbels himself headed a
commission of investigation; and he and Himmler cross-examined
the arrested generals throughout the night. Those condemned, then
or thereafter, were executed with revolting cruelty. They were
hanged from meat-hooks and slowly strangled. Goebbels ordered a
film to be made of their trial and execution: it was to be shown, in
terrorem to Wehrmacht audiences. However, the reaction of the first
audience was so hostile that it had to be suppressed. * The purge
spread throughout Germany, and some of the victims were still
being executed in the last days of the Reich.
Goebbels also exploited the Plot to demand, once again, a total-
isation of war. He went himself to Rastenburg and told Hitler that it
was partly the faults of the leadership which had led to the Plot; that
the war could not go on in the present desultory way; and that there
was now no alternative to total war. Once again he offered himself
to undertake the thankless task, and guaranteed, in three months to
raise a new army of a miUion men. Hitler agreed. He appointed
Goebbels Reich Commissioner for Total Mobilisation of Resources
for War. As he travelled back by train to Berhn, Goebbels said to his
assistant, "if I had received these powers when I wanted them so
*
J. W. Wheeler Bennett, The Nemesis of Power (1953), p. 684.
XXVm INTRODUCTION
badly" - that is, in January 1943 - "victory would be in our pockets

today and the war would probably be over. But it takes a bomb
under his arse to make Hitler see reason."*
Once again, Goebbels' measures were largely negative. While
Speer streamlined the armaments industry, Goebbels imposed
restrictions on travel, closed theatres and luxury shops, stopped
pubhcations. He also organised violence against defeatism and
preached nihilism, "scorched earth", self-immolation. As the war
became more desperate, he positively gloated in the destruction of
German cities — the less we possess, he cried, the freer we are to
fight. Meanwhile, all traitors must be rooted out and all restraints
on the savagery of war removed. He called for more and more
executions. He urged Hitler to use a deadly poison-gas, Tabunt;
and in February 1945 he proposed that he denounce the Geneva
Convention and order that all British and American pilots in
prisoner-of-war camps be shot. This, he said, would both stop the
Allied bombing and deter German soldiers from surrendering in the
West, lest they be treated likewise. Those already captured, appar-
ently, could be written off At the same time he was still seeking to
enlarge his own political power. He would have Ribbentrop
removed, Goring tried before a People's Court, and would himself
take over complete control. He would raise armies, re-create the
extinct Luftwaffe. Why should he not rule all Germany as he ruled
Berlin? He v/ould be Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Chancellor
of the Reich .t . .
In the end he would obtain his wishes. Hitler would dismiss

Goring. He would drop Ribbentrop. He would give Goebbels full
power to reform the Luftwaffe. He would appoint him Chancellor
of the Reich. But by then it would all be too late, far too late. For
months the great realist had been the victim of his own propaganda.
He had believed that, somehow, the war could still be won.
How was it to be won? Not militarily: that was now clearly
impossible. With the enemy advancing from East and West, and in
complete command of the air, Germany was overpowered. But if
only the fronts could hold out a little longer, perhaps diplomacy
would succeed where arms could not. Had not Frederick the Great,
Hitler's hero and therefore also his own, once been in precisely such
a position? And had he not, by holding firm, even when the military
situation seemed hopeless, in the end, by an unpredictable dip-
lomatic revolution, snatched victory from the jaws of defeat? That
* Semler, op. cit., p. 147.
t Speer, op. cit., p. 413.
t Semler, op. cit., pp. 179-80.
INTRODUCTION
revolution, "the miracle of the House of Brandenburg", had been

the death of the Czarina, Elizabeth, which had caused Russia to
abandon the coalition against Prussia. And then there was the
second Punic War, 2000 years earlier, when Hannibal, having
crossed the Alps, and won the battles of Trasimene and Cannae,
was at the gates of Rome, and yet Rome, by playing for time, had in
the end defeated him and so gone on to rule the world Such
. . .
were the hopes on which Goebbels, in the last months of the war,
fed Hitler, the German people, and himself
From 16 January 1945, when Hitler returned to BerHn after
directing the Ardennes offensive, the last German counter-attack in
the West, Goebbels had regular access to the Führer and was able to
exert all his personal influence on him. That is, he was able to
encourage him in his fantasies of victory, and give to those fantasies
the gloss and edge of his own. So, in the intervals of denouncing his
own rivals for their incompetence or defeatism, he read Carlyle's
Life of Frederick the Great, Dr Frank on the second Punic War, the
history of Prussia's fight against Napoleon. From history, or his
own news-bulletins, he snatched at every straw of comfort and
often stopped to hear, and admire, the echo of his own propaganda.
To infect Hitler with his own radicahsm he pressed upon him
photographs of bombed cities and ruined architectural monuments
— for Hitler himself had never visited a bombed city. He urged
Hitler, who had fallen silent since 20 July 1944, to address the
nation. He demanded a new diplomatic initiative. The war, he
insisted, would go on for a long time: why should not Russia be
detached from the enemy aUiance and converted into an ally to roll
back the Western firont? Meanwhile, he looked forward to the
fiiture. Pubhcly, he assumed that it would be a Nazi future. But
even if that should fail, it must be a future that would be interested in
Nazism, a future which would be reached by his own propaganda,
and would see Hitler, and Nazism, and himself, through his eyes.
So he continued to write. Even in the last weeks of the war, when
the enemy armies were closing in, he was stiU writing: books,
articles, diaries. In March 1945 we find him correcting the proofs of
a new book, The Law of War. Even later, he is writing an article on
History as Teacher — no doubt on the Punic War or Frederick the
Great. And every day, now as before, he dictated his diary: that
diary that was to be - and will still be, in spite of everything - a
primary source for the detailed history of the years of Nazism.
The documentary history of Goebbels' diary is told, in this
volume, by Peter Stadelmayer. Some of it - a discontinuous part of
it embracing the years 1942-3 - is already in print. Much more of it
XXX INTRODUCTION
now This volume contains the last surviving

exists in typescript.
part of it. begins before the Western Allies had crossed the Rhine
It
and w^hen Hitler could still hope to counter-attack against the

Russians in Hungary. It ends with the evident collapse of Nazism,
hostile armies in the heart of the Reich, and Hitler relying, since all
else had failed, on horoscopes and his star.
There is no need for me to summarise the dramatic history of
those six weeks, or Goebbels' reactions to them. The diary is here,
and needs no commentary. I will only observe that Goebbels, on
it
every page, is true to himself Here we see his opportunism, his

radicalism, his nihihsm, his hatred of humanity; but also his incred-
ible mental energy, his unfailing flair for propaganda, and his per-
sonal courage. Most prominent of all, perhaps, is his passion for
destruction. In these last weeks, he is still raging against Goring and
Ribbentrop, denouncing those who - hke Speer — wish to save
anything of Germany independently of Nazism, castigating whole
classes, whole groups, whole nations: the miserable bourgeoisie,
the generals, the Luftwaffe, the Churches, the Jews, the Swiss, the
Swedes. In particular, it is Goring, Ribbentrop and the generals
whom he detests: Goring for his sybaritic indolence, which has left
Germany helpless in the air, Ribbentrop for his diplomatic use-
lessness which has allowed the world to unite against it, the generals
for treasonable reluctance to fight a revolutionary war. Why, he
asks, did we not shoot the generals instead of the SA in 1934! Stalin
was right: he purged his entire General Staff. Stalin indeed is the
only man to be praised in these pages. Fortunately, Hitler now
agrees that peace should be made with Stalin. Stalin at least is a
realist. Of course, the Führer admits, we could not now attain our
war-aims of 1 941 - the permanent occupation of Russia up to the
Urals, the total demolition of Leningrad and Moscow — but we
would settle for Hungary, Croatia and half of Poland, and then join
Russia to destroy the West "This programme," comments
. . .
Goebbels, "is grandiose and persuasive. The only objection is that

there is no means of achieving it." Goebbels is at least more realistic
than the Führer.
Perhaps it is not saying much. The reader of these diaries is more
likely to be struck by the unreality than the reality of Goebbels'
mental picture of the war. Everywhere he sees the liberated
countries of the West about to revolt against their liberators, pre-
ferring German domination. The French, he says, are listening as
eagerly to German as formerly to English broadcasts: already
Europe regrets us. Industrial action is paralysing the West: we
"must hang on till all Europe sinks in chaos". The Anglo-
INTRODUCTION XXXI
Americans are hopelessly incompetent: they understand neither

war psychology nor war propaganda; how silly of the German
people (and Himmler) to prefer them to the Russians! Stalin must be
our model: the worse the military situation, the more ruthlessly the
Party must secure its control over the whole country. Meanwhile
there is room for diplomacy. Goebbels shows no inkHng of an
understanding of the plain fact that German diplomacy had lost all
credibihty, thanks to its control by the Nazi Party. It was not merely
Ribbentrop who had failed: Nazism was now totally bankrupt. As
Speer wrote, "there were differences of degree in the flight from
reahty," and Goebbels was "many times closer to recognising
actuahties" than the other leaders; "but these differences shrink to
nothing when we consider how remote all of us ... were from .
what was really going on."*

On 6 April, when Goebbels' own commentary on events breaks
off, he hoping against hope for a miraculous break-up of the
is still
enemy A week later he beHeved that such a break-up was

alliance.
imminent. On the evening of 13 April the news came that President
Roosevelt had died. Goebbels was away from Berlin at the time,
visiting the headquarters of General Busse's Ninth Army. There he
had assured the officers that, if only the German army and people
stood firm, a miracle might yet save them, hke "the miracle of the
House of Brandenburg" in 1762. The officers, it seems, had been
sceptical: what kind of a miracle, they asked, could be expected
now? On his return to BerHn, Goebbels was told the news. He was
overjoyed. This, he declared, was the turning-point! ... It was Hke
the death of the Empress Elizabeth in the Seven Years War. He
telephoned Busse's headquarters to rub home his point. He and
Hitler were both, for a time, in ecstasy. They now looked to see
America withdraw from the war. Goebbels told the Press to do
nothing to irritate the new President: "our rejoicing at Roosevelt's
death we must keep to ourselves, "t
These hopes were quickly dashed. Roosevelt's death, it soon
became clear, made no difference to American poHcy, and the
armies of East and West closed remorselessly in on German soiL
Four days later Goebbels had given up hope of miracles and decided
to prepare for the end. But even the end must be dramatised, turned
into propaganda. On 17 April Goebbels summoned his staff
together. Some fifty men were there, and many of them were
• Speer, op. cit, p. 291.
t This episode is described in the diary of Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk
(cited in my The Last Days of Hitler) and, independently by SenJer, op. cit., pp.
190-3.
INTRODUCTION
demanding to be released to the fighting forces in order to escape

from the doomed capital. Goebbels spoke to them about a new
colour-film Kolberg, which had recently been released. Then he
spoke of another even more splendid colour-film which would be
shown a hundred years hence. It would be the film of the Twilight
of the Gods in Berhn in 1945. Did they not wish to appear with
credit in that film? "I can assure you it will be a fine and elevating
picture, and for the sake of this prospect it is worth standing fast.
Hold out now, so that a hundred years hence the audience does not
hoot and whistle when you appear on the screen!" His staff were not
impressed by these heroic gestures. They looked at him with
amazement and concluded that he had gone off his head.*
Five days later, on 22 April 1945, when the Russians had almost
encircled Berlin, the Propaganda Ministry, like other government
offices, broke up. Those who did not wish to feature posthumously
in Goebbels' imaginary film flew to Obersalzberg in order to fall
into Western hands. Goebbels himself, after dictating his last (and
now lost) diary entry, moved into the Führerbunker under the
Reich Chancellery, thence to direct the last battles of Hitler's war
and his own propaganda. There, with Martin Bormann, his uneasy
partner to the end, he witnessed the last convulsions of Nazism and
attended to its last ceremonies: the marriage of Hitler and Eva
Braun, their suicide, the lurid funeral in the Chancellery garden.
Then, with all his family, he too committed suicide, having first
seen to it that a manifesto should reach the world to put the correct
propagandist gloss on this final gesture of annihilation. He des-
troyed himself, typically, in the shadow of his leader, whose votive
lamp he had tended, making himself visible only by its rays.
For Goebbels was essentially a man of words, images, gestures.
He had no ideas, no beliefs of his own. Positive aims he had none:
even the positive aims of Nazism - race, blood, an empire in the East
- meant nothing to him. His hfe consisted entirely of reactions, not
actions. Hence his need of perpetual motion. He depended on
external stimulus because he had no inner impulse, and needed
incessant activity as an escape from inner emptiness. Hence also his
intellectual and political agility. He piqued himself on his objec-
tivity, his freedom from prejudice; but his very freedom from
prejudice was a function of his own lack of beliefs, and he valued his
perception of reality only as a means towards its distortion. The
ideas which he assumed were entirely borrowed. Until he dis-
covered Hitler, he Uved in a void, clutching at changing ideologies.
• Semler, op. cit., pp. 193-4.

INTRODUCTION
feeding on nihilism and resentment. Thereafter, he Hved on Hitler,

and although he could detach himself from Hitler, and the image of
Hitler which he had created, he could not detach himself for long:
his own essential nullity always drove him back. Even the trappings
of his intellectual world were imitated from Hitler: he, the uni-
versity graduate, the doctor of philosophy, would read and quote
only the books, or the subjects, recommended by that self-taught
genius: Schopenhauer, Frederick the Great, the Punic War. Left to
himself, his only ideal was destruction. His great theatrical gestures
were always an incitement to destruction: hymns of hate against the
bourgeoisie, the bolsheviks, the Jews. His chosen form of action
was destructive violence: organised street-riots, broken plate-glass
windows, bonfires of books. His chosen ceremonial was the fun-
eral: the funeral of Horst Wessel, regular funerals of SS-men, the
funeral-march for Stalingrad. His funeral oratory was proverbial:
he was known as "the Reich Funeral Master". In the last months, it
was natural that he should direct his destructive spirit against Ger-
many itself; that his last ceremony should be the funeral of Hitler;
and that then, when the necessary host had gone, the parasite should
quietly extinguish itself He would happily have extinguished
Germany too. After the extinction of its ruling class, he said, the
German people could not live. As Hitler himself said, it was not
worthy to live.
THE STORY OF THE
1945 GOEBBELS DIARIES
Peter Stadelmayer
Up to 8 July 1 94 1 Goebbels wrote his diary entries in manuscript.

From 9 July onwards the "stenographer at the Minister's disposal"
took down the entries, which were dictated at high speed, trans-
cribed them on a "Continental" typewriter with specially large type
(one carbon, both sheets of same quality) and was responsible for
safe keeping.
These with 9 July 1941 and, like the manuscript
entries begin
diaries, invariably dealwith events of the previous day, starting
with "Military Situation", the basis of which was the briefing by
the Wehrmacht Liaison Officer from OKW [Oberkommando der
Wehrmacht - High Command of the German Armed Forces].
This briefing was given every morning to a small circle in the
Minister's study, occasionally - and towards the end of the war
invariably — with the stenographer present; it differed from the
"Situation Report" given at the subsequent Minister's conference in
that it gave a less varnished account. The "Military Situation"
paragraphs reproduced in this book were drafted by the OKW

liaison officer and the stenographer.
Entries dictated by the Minister were taken down word for word.
They were intended as raw material for subsequent publications
and were not, therefore, in final form. According to both his
stenographers, Goebbels never asked to see the transcripts of his
dictated entries and so made no amendments to them. This
explains many of the careless errors which the author would cer-
tainly have corrected when revising for publication. It is both
XXXVl THE STORY OF THE
Specially valuable and specially fascinating for the present-day

reader to be able, so to speak, to listen to the most articulate of the
Third Reich's leaders dictating a rough draft. One suspects, for
instance, that, had Goebbels read through his dictation with pencil
in hand, the Bourbon Princess who suggested that people clamour-
ing for bread should eat cake, would turn back into the Habsburg
Princess Marie-Antoinette who was married to a Bourbon.
Towards the end of the war dictated diary entries, by this time a
considerable pile, together with the black oilcloth manuscript
were in the Reich Propaganda Ministry's safes. During the
diaries,
lastmonths of the war various official agencies in Berlin "micro-
copied" their most important files and at this time Richard Otte, the
stenographer who kept the diaries, was ordered to direct and super-
vise microcopying of the Goebbels diaries. By this time the per-
manent diary stenographer was Otto Jacobs. Richard Otte had been
temporarily seconded in 1938 from the German News Agency
(DNB) to the Reich Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and
Propaganda where he joined the Minister's stenographic service
and was used to take minutes at conferences; in 1941 he became
"stenographer at the Minister's disposal" with the rank of
Rcgicrungstrat [lowest rank in the Higher Civil Service]. By con-
trast Otto Jacobs, who was also seconded to the Ministry in 1941,
retained his professional connection with the German News
Agency during those years. After the war Otte and Jacobs worked
in the Federal Republic as parliamentary and diplomatic steno-
graphers, Richard Otte initially in the Lower Saxony Landtag, later
in the German Bundestag and Bundesrat. Until 1974 Otto Jacobs
was head parUamentary stenographer of the Hamburg Mun-
icipality, for which he still works in retirement.
Otte and Jacobs worked in Goebbels' Ministry until 22 April
1945, the Sunday on which the Goebbels family moved into the
Reich Chancellery bunker. Otto Jacobs remembers taking diary
dictation and transcribing it up to 22 April. Apart from the extracts
now produced here for the first time, however, all other entries in
Goebbels' diary of 1945 must be considered to have vanished.
Otte and Jacobs have done a great deal of work on the material
now pubhshed unabridged in this book. Jacobs recognised his own
orthography of the time, for instance his preference for "ss" as
opposed to the German "ß", and Otte recognised his handwriting
in notes for the photographer doing the microcopying. The pub-
lisher is grateful to both these gentlemen for their help in checking
passages which were difficult to read.
To judge from the notes referred to above, microcopying was
done time on "plates" each capable of "taking" 45 DIN A4

at that
sheets at a time in 5 rows each of 9 sheets. The fragment produced
here begins with page 52, entry dictated on 28 February 1945, and in
the top left-hand corner is the figure "41" in Otte's handwriting. It
may be supposed that for purposes of microcopying page i of the
entry for i January 1945 was given the figure i and therefore that
diary entries filling 40 plates for the 59 days of the first two months
of 1945 averaged about 30 pages (40X45 = 1800, 1800 = 59X30
approx). This corresponds to the volume of the dictation pubHshed
here.
Initially we were uncertain whether the first entry reproduced
here should be dated 27 or 28 February; the nearest number (42)
which, at the normal rate of 45 sheets per plate, would not be found
until 38 pages after page 59, is to be found on page i of the entry for
1 March. Plate 41, therefore, may have contained an entry for a
further day consisting of 37 pages. The diary of Linge, Hitler's valet,

however, shows that Goebbels visited Hitler at 6.45 p.m. on 27
February. Since all Goebbels' diary entries refer to the previous day,
in all probabiUty pages 52—9 were dictated on 28 February.
Study of the lay-out of plates also leads to the conclusion that
Plate 70, which has vanished taking with it parts of the entries
dictated on 2 and 3 April, contained the last 25 pages (pp. 21-45) for
2 April and the first 20 pages of 3 April (25 plus 20 = 45 = i plate).
So far neither the originals nor the plates of the 1945 transcripts
have been found. The material pubUshed here has been compiled
from a film copy on perforated microfilm. Type ORWO S NP 1 5,
originating from East Germany. This copy is part of the vol-
uminous material offered to Hoffmann & Campe in October 1972
by the journaUst Erwin Fischer and handed over shortly thereafter
for pubUcation purposes.
Parts of Goebbels' diaries have already appeared in print. After
the "Seizure of Power" (30 January 1933) Goebbels himself incor-
porated extracts from his 1932/3 diaries in his book Vom Kaiserhof
zur Reichskanzlei (Munich 1934). Shortly after the war Louis P.
Lochner, the American journalist, published a selection of frag-
ments from the 1942/3 diaries; these were from the actual originals,
the existence of which had become known by devious means to the
American occupation authorities in Berlin at or shortly after the end
of the war and which had been placed in safe custody by them (The
Goebbels Diaries 1942-43, Hamish Hamilton, London 1948).
In i960 Helmut Heiber, the German historian, pubhshed through
the Institut für Zeitgeschichte an annotated edition of fragments
from the manuscript diaries of 1925/6.
XXXVUl THE STORY OF THE
The originals of the entries for 1942/3 and 1925/6 are in the
Hoover Institution in Stanford, California. Photocopies of these are
kept in the Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Munich, which also has a
small stock of hitherto unpublished originals of 1942/3; to some
extent these overlap with the film material available to the present
publishers.
XXXIX
. 52 •
•Ar aa-5un so soln, ri» Frlcfc'rtch out Jrocsc jj^wossn
1*t, unJ yn- auch so bGiiöh-an. tir Yjhrur stini.l alr
vülHjj lüi tun;) ich 1Ii3 goju, uass es un-cp ^brgafi
Sein sali, daiJr zu -orjun, dass, renn In »»cutoch-
lanü cIRmjI In UC Jn.*rc:n binw yLlch yrossd npIss
:uf taucht, unserö lh^c 1 sich auf uns ils t'as hDrolsche
3v1ipl3l diir .;lanc!iaf llj iv'll bj.ûwn ;<t;nr:n. »'.uch
bto stjls:!i''ph11osj|.!:!jcli8 Haltung zu dun ücnsrhan
uni.' zu dtn !:r«;1gn 1:^580, dis der Kohrar hcuta uln-
nHrt, crinnart stark an Frltidrich d^n Grossen. Er
sj^t ii\r Z'j-i Jcisplol, cass os nöt1> «el.fjp sein |
Val!i zu araötten, aacp dat auch da'a nur b:iiPonztjj
WcrLchcnowTk coin künns. Wor ttsse, tana clod«p «in-
.;al ein Moncfjin'jruch in. Jig CrJa stattfinde und olasf;

Xl THE STORY OF THE
became critical, it was intended that the originals should be taken to

the 'Alpine Fortress'. After being microcopied they were packed in
metal containers ('officers' chests') and presumably (I was not
responsible for this stage) taken to the Reich Chancellery. Their
move to the 'Alpine Fortress' never took place because, with the
Americans and Russians meeting on the Elbe, the road to Bavaria
was closed."
Wilfred von Oven says that the documents were buried some
days before i8 April 1945. Otte remembers being present about the
middle of April when an "officer's chest" containing the photo-
graphic plates of the microcopy was buried to a depth of three feet in
the wood between Michendorf and Caputh not far from the auto-
bahn.
Yelena Rshevskaya, the Russian historian, says in her book Hit-
lers Ende ohne Mythos (Deutscher Militärvcrlag, East Berlin 1967)
that, when working as an interpreter with a special detachment in

early May 1945, she had to "sift innumerable papers and docu-
ments" in the bunker of the Reich Chancellery; they included
Goebbels' diaries. She says: "One of our most important dis-
coveries was Goebbels' diaries, a dozen thick folders, closely writ-
ten in a close perpendicular hand - difficult to read. The first folios
referred to 1932, when the fascists were not yet in power; the last
ended in mid- 1 941 ... I wrote a short summary of contents and
then they were sent to Front Headquarters."
The Polish historian Juliusz Stroynowski, now living in the
Federal Republic, told the publishers that in 1967 he stumbled
across several stacked folders containing Goebbels' diaries in the
archives of the Russian Ministry of Defence. He was allowed to
examine this material in connection with his research work but was
not allowed to take photocopies.
Readers of Albert Speer's Spandau Diaries will perhaps wonder
about "the last entry in Goebbels' diary" copies out by Speer on 13
May 1947 and quoted in that book. Speer found this quotation, as he
was good enough to tell us, in the Nürnberger Nachrichten of 6 May
1947, where it was given without reference to source. It was not in
fact a quote from Joseph Goebbels, but fiction. The newspaper was
quoting faithfully from a book Wie konnte es geschehen —Auszüge aus
den Tagebüchern und Bekenntnissen eines Kriegsverbrechers [How could
it happen — Extracts from the Diaries and Confessions of a War
Criminal] by Max Fechner (J. H. W. Dietz II GmbH, Berlin 1946).

The author, at one time Deputy Chairman of the Socialist Unity
Party with Walter Ulbricht, wrote in his "Afterword" to these
fictitious records by Dr Joseph Goebbels: "This is how he ought to
1945 GOEBBELS DIARIES xU
have written, had he been honest. But he was a great har and
remained so until he took his poison. We have accordingly taken the
pen from his hand."
The present pubhshers [Hoffmann & Campe] have available
copies of nearly 16,000 pages of the diaries from the years 1924 to
1945 together with other written material from Goebbels' papers.
Over 4,000 pages are in manuscript and over 11,000 typewritten.
The total volume is approximately equivalent to 20,000 of the diary
pages reproduced in facsimile on p. xxxix.
The Annexes to the present book contain a selection of docu-
ments from the days for which no diary entries by Goebbels are
available. The "Chronology" extends beyond the death of Hitler
and Goebbels to the end of the Third Reich.
As this first volume appears the publishers express the hope that
other possessors of originals or copies will assist in completing
Goebbels' literary estate and will make available to them further
material for the publication of his records.
Translator's Note
Peter Stadelmayer explains that Goebbels dictated his diary entries,

invariably referring to events of the previous day. The question
therefore arose whether entries should be headed with the date of
German edition uses the date of
dictation or the date referred to; the
dictation. However, thisproduces certain ostensibly erroneous
statements. In this translation, therefore, the dates of entries are
those on which the events in question occurred, not the dates on
which the entry concerned was dictated. The word "yesterday" has
been omitted from the "Military Situation" sub-headings and on
the comparatively rare occasions on which it appeared in the text.
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International boundaries 1937
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Kilometres 160
{]pUle«teiUlt!« fesis« I»s«nkl1ekt1eb fyp ms tvr
^ôeh ^yttt «a^ K«)i« ü^tg, 81« fUkUfi itch auf dir
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ttsrk afi}(6$e&Ug09 m4 g«fe«A Kn& ktflnarlcl tlfyit».
auMleiitiR 6«hr» S«r Vollisstura Ut naeh Ihrin Cir»
ättUuvis»« ein« Dudi Alt«»ä»ftiMartf«* Dil Bcvttike«
ru»g (far besttztan EsbUta knbi acliaii vea i.ätl'^ral«
aoilt^llallaeân «îglta und von dar nfitlonalsozl^lUl
acêa Fijhruag Alscklid ganQieia; ala lagt Ihnin ge*
ânttlar alia davate urtkrvdrflgkal landau Tag, dia
garadasM palnltcl »Irks« Vss elsar gtordRaUn dout*
aakaa VariaHeig k«nB« udar 1i da« baaatzta« ««ek
f la daa ^kaeettta« Saklata« ^hp dIaRada aal«. Oa«

TUESDAY 27 FEBRUARY 1945
(pp. 52-59 of dictation transcript, pp. 1-51 missing)

We must be as Frederick the Great was and act as he did. The Führer
agrees with me entirely whenI say to him that it should be our
ambition to ensure that,should a similar great crisis arise in Ger-

many, say in 150 years' time, our grandchildren may look back on
us as a heroic example of steadfastness. The stoic philosophical
attitude to people and events adopted by the Führer today is very
reminiscent of Frederick the Great. He says to me, for instance, that
it is essential to work for one's people but that there is a hmit to what
men can do. Who knows when the moon may not crash into the
earth and this whole planet go up in flame and ashes. Nevertheless,
he says, it must be our mission to do our duty to the last. In these
matters the Führer too is a stoic and a complete disciple of Frederick
the Great whom, consciously and unconsciously, he emulates. That
must be a model and an example to us all. How gladly would we
wholeheartedly copy this model and example. If only Goring was
not so completely out of line. He is no National-Socialist but a
sybarite and certainly no disciple of Frederick the Great. In contrast
what a fme imposing impression is made by Dönitz. * As the Führer
told me he is the best man in his whole arm of the service. Look at
the invariably gratifying results he has achieved with the Navy.
Raeder was also a man of the highest class, the Führer says; he had
shown unwavering loyalty to the Führer and had instilled into his
arm of the service a spirit which had enabled it today to erase the
stain on the German Navy left by the World War. It is a pity that the
Party is represented, not by a man like that but by Goring, who has
as much to do with the Party as a cow with radiology. But, as I have
said, this problem must now be solved. It is no longer any good
* Grand Admiral Dönitz had replaced Grand Admiral Raeder as Commander-

in-Chief,German Navy, in 1943. He was a strong Nazi (sec below p. 83). As such.
1
Hitler would designate him, in his will, as his successor as President (but not
Führer) of the Reich.
27 FEBRUARY I945
skating over these things and it is of no help to the Führer if one tries
to spare him by holding one's tongue.
The discussion which I had with the Führer over this, in my view,
completely fundamental problem of our war leadership was very
dramatic and heated. But the Führer agreed with me on every point.
I feel in fact that he is annoyed that things should have gone so far,
not that I spoke so bluntly and frankly. On the contrary he com-

plimented me on it, took my side openly and unreservedly and
expressed his pleasure that I for one made no bones about my
views. I told him that I had recently been reading Carlyle's book on
Frederick the Great. The Führer knows the book very well himself.
I repeated certain passages from the book to him and they affected
him very deeply. That is how we must be and that is how we will
be. If someone like Goring dances totally out of hne, then he must
be called to order. Bemedalled idiots and vain perfumed coxcombs
have no place in our war leadership. Either they must mend their
ways or be eliminated. I shaU not rest or repose until the Führer has
put this in order. He must change Goring both inside and outside or
show him the door. For instance it is simply grossly bad style for the
senior officer of the Reich, in the present wartime situation, to strut
round in a silver-grey uniform. What effeminate behaviour in face
of present developments! It is to be hoped that the Führer will
succeed in turning Goring into a man again. The Führer is glad that
Göring's wife has now moved to the Obersalzberg because she was
a bad influence on him. Anyway Göring's whole entourage is
not worth a row of beans. It encouraged instead of restraining
his tendency to effeminacy and pleasure-seeking. By contrast
the Führer had high praise for the simplicity and purity of my
family Ufe. This is the only way to meet the demands of the present
times.
I have the very definite impression that this discussion with the
Führer made a real impact. It was necessary and the timing was
entirely right. We argued so loudly that the aides outside could hear
what we said through the door. They were extremely pleased.
These splendid young men are interested solely in seeing the Party
led back to its true essence and nature since only in this way can the
fortunes of this war be turned. All these young people are on my
side and look upon me as their mouthpiece since I can say to the
Führer point-blank what has to be said. Round the dinner-table in
the Reich Chancellery there sits a worn-out collection of officers. I
barely say "good evening" to them. These people are as foreign to
me as men can be.
Back at home I have a mountain of work to deal with. But I can
27 FEBRUARY I945
now get on with it very quickly and energetically since I have got a
realburden off my chest.
In the evening we have the regulation Mosquito raid on Berlin
once more.
The situation in the West causes me great anxiety. What will
happen if the enemy really makes a break-through here? But we will
not assume the worst. The great thing is that I have at last succeeded
in hacking my way through this fundamental question of our war
leadership.
During the night the cursed Englishmen return to Berlin with
Mosquitos and deprive one of the few hours' sleep which one
their
needs more than ever these days.
WEDNESDAY 28 FEBRUARY 1945
(pp. 1-33)
Military Situation.
In Hungary no special developments. In Slovakia several violent
enemy attacks at Altsohl were repulsed. In the entire Silesian sector
as far as the area south of Breslau no fighting of significance. An
enemy saHent at Schwarzwasser was eÜminated in one of our
attacks. Apart from a break-in at Lauban numerous enemy attacks
between Strehlen and Görlitz were repulsed. The enemy succeeded
in penetrating into the northern outskirts of Lauban. Enemy attacks
near Goldberg were very heavy but all were repulsed. Street
fighting continues on the outskirts of Breslau. Local Soviet attacks
on Forst and Guben failed. In the Oder sector the Bolshevists were
able to expand their bridgehead at Lebus shghtly by means of a local
attack. A strong local enemy attack south of Pyritz was repulsed. In
the area between Rummelsburg and Neustettin the Bolshevists
were They took Neus-
able to increase the depth of their break-in.
tettinand pushed on a few kilometres farther west to the Neus-
tettin-Kolberg and Neustettin-Falkenburg railway. An enemy
attempt to advance from Bublitz towards KösHn was frustrated.
From Pollnow the enemy succeeded in advancing as far as Latzig
heading for Schlawe. In this sector the emergency defence unit from
an air base at Stolp was sent into action at Pollnow; it had 15
Panzerfaust and destroyed 1 1 enemy tanks, losing only one man in
the process. In the sector northwards from Konitz to the Vistula
numerous local enemy attacks were repulsed, particularly at
Heiderode; the enemy succeeded in breaking in north of Konitz. In
East Prussia fighting was generally not quite so severe as on pre-
vious days, but particularly violent attacks took place north of
Zinten. Our defence was again entirely successful. In Courland too
violent enemy attacks were once more repulsed.
On the Western Front the British and Canadians made only small
local gains of ground despite violent attacks southwards from
28 FEBRUARY I945
Goch. Most of the attacks were repulsed. In the area of the major
American offensive the enemy has now deployed all his reserves of
armour and is attempting to push on eastwards. So far he has
nowhere achieved a break-through or operational freedom of
movement but his gains of ground have not been insignificant
nevertheless. He pushed farther along the railway from Erkelenz
towards Rheydt and along the road from Erkelenz to München-
Gladbach. Here fighting is taking place some 3-5 km west and
south-west of the suburbs of Rheydt. German units are everywhere
offering stiff resistance and inflicting severe losses on the enemy. In
the sector north-east and east of Jülich the enemy was also able to
gain ground. His leading units are now in the Erft valley on the west
bank of the Erft. He has thus covered half the distance from JüÜch to
Köln. South of this he reached the Düren-Köln road in the area of
Blatzheim. Severe fighting also continues on the Eifel front. Here
the enemy has deployed an additional division withdrawn from
Hagenau and replaced there by a French division. In the Bitburg
depression the enemy is clearly trying to make progress towards
Wittlich. North of Bitburg he has advanced farther towards the
River Kyll. He succeeded in moving into Bitburg from the south.
North of Welschbillig he crossed the Bitburg-Trier road. South of
Trier, where the Americans advanced to Zerf, they increased the
depth of their break-in, almost reaching the Ruwer valley. Enemy
dispositions lead one to suspect that he will
swing his flank units
southwards from Bitburg and northwards from Zerf in order to
capture Trier.
No operations of particular importance have been reported from
the Italian front.
Enemy air activity in the East was fairly heavy. The Soviets
deployed a total of some 1200 aircraft, the majority in the area of the
offensive in Pomerania. Our own air activity too was fairly heavy
and successful. Once more numerous enemy tanks and assault guns
were destroyed and his columns shot up. Our fighter-bombers sank
an enemy torpedo-boat near Polangen.
In the West, owîng to unfavourable weather enemy low-level
and twin-engine bomber activity was somewhat smaller than usuaL
Over Reich territory 1 100 four-engined American bombers with
strong fighter escort attacked transport installations at Halle and
Leipzig. In the afternoon 150 British bombers with fighter escort
attacked transport targets in Dortmund, Castrop-Rauxel and Reck-
linghausen. Some 300 British bombers made a raid on Mainz.
Flying from Italy, 600 four-engined American bombers attacked
industrial and transport targets in the Augsburg area. Some 80
28 FEBRUARY I945
from this formation made a subsidiary attack on Salzburg.

aircraft
So 20 aircraft have been reported shot down. During the night
far
two harassing raids were made on BerUn, in each case by some 70
Mosquitos.
The British and Americans are at present spreading horror stories

about the situation in the West. They maintain that they have
achieved a breakthrough all along the line and — as Montgomery in
particular emphasises - are henceforth compelled to impose a news
black-out so that no information of any value can reach us. The
Americans specifically boast that they are only 15 km from Köln
and that it is now only a trifling matter for them to reach the Rhine.
During the day, however, these views have had to undergo fun-
damental revision. The resistance offered by our troops is so
immense that even the enemy has had to admit that there is not the
remotest question of a collapse of the German front.
By the evening their tone was much more subdued. British
headquarters in particular stress most explicitly that there can be no
talk of a break-through. Clearly they have overcalled their hand;
they took our outpost position for the main front and only then did
they encounter vast resistance which is now making it hard work
for the enemy assault divisions. Enemy casualties are enormous.
The Americans report mountains of dead and they no longer make
any secret of the fact in their press. In addition there are the very
high casualties they are suffering on the island of Iwo Jima. In short
we are at the moment in a stage of the war when, by causing the
enemy maximum casualties, we can exact the most respect from
him. Undoubtedly this makes a very deep impression on Anglo-
American public opinion.
In the evening it was suddenly stated in London that Rundstedt*
had changed his tactics, that he was not giving battle on the forward
line but trying to draw the attacking British and Americans on
against lines farther in rear and that the effect of this would be highly
disadvantageous for the attacking troops.
A debate is taking place in the Commons about the Crimea
Conference, t A number of opposition Tory MPs have put down an
amendment to the motion of confidence approved by the govern-
ment and its implications for the relationship between England and
her allies will be fairly embarrassing. The battle is over this amend-
* Commander-in-Chief West.
t i.e. the Alhed Conference at Yalta, 3-13 February 1945.
28 FEBRUARY 1945
ment. The Churchill government is opposing its acceptance tooth

and nailand the opposition naturally does not dare force matters as
far as a public vote of no confidence. In his speech during the debate
Greenwood, the deputy leader of the Labour Party, criticised most
sharply the treatment meted out to the Poles at the Crimea Con-
ference; on the Conservative side too severely critical speeches were
to be heard. Without a doubt, however, Churchill will emerge from
this debate unscathed. England is too weak to be able to afford a
government crisis, particularly at this stage of the war. She went
along with the rest, she will be carried along with the rest and she
will hang with the rest. She has started on the downward path and
must now stew in her great dilemma.
Criticism of the Yalta decisions comes primarily from Tory
circles. The group of Tories forming the inner circle has long been
at work either to bring Churchill back onto the right course or to
bring him down. In these circles people talk of Poland when of
course they mean Germany. But at the moment this opposition is of
no great importance to us. It cannot really get going for the reasons
just described.
Churchill's remarks on the shipping situation produced great
alarm. In addition a government spokesman in the Lords stated that
the Allies had never had as much shipping as they have now but that
there had never been such an extraordinary shortage of shipping. If
our new U-boat operations can cash in on this situation they may,
under the circumstances, have a disastrous effect on Anglo-
American strategy.
Eden has let it be known to a private circle in the Commons that
Churchill did not conclude a secret agreement in Yalta, as has been
suspected. This question is of vital importance for the conduct of
the debate in the Commons.
We hear from American sources that in November 1940 Petain
concluded a secret treaty with England to the effect that France
would re-enter the war against Germany at a favourable moment.
The treaty was concluded behind Laval's back. I think this entirely
possible. Petain has duped us and Laval too probably knew all about
it. As the Anglo-American invasion proceeded they both expressed
a wish to remain in Paris - and for good reason. I do not think they
would have had to face trial for treason.
The strike movement in the USA appears to be growing and it is
especially noticeable in the armaments sector. Such developments
are now the order of the day both in England and America. They are
symptomatic of the profound poUtical crisis prevalent in Western
enemy countries.
8 28 FEBRUARY I945
The well-known American journalist von Wiegandt has written

an articleabout the worldwide threat of bolshevism; it follows
preceisely the line of his last article headed "The Year 2000". Being
published in the entire Hearst newspaper chain, this von Wiegandt
article has created a real press sensation. The extent to which our
theories are repeated in this article is truly astounding. The Hearst
chain has always been anti-bolshevist but the fact that it has stuck its
neck out so far in the present war situation seems to me of some
significance. In any case, if Roosevelt now faces the American
public, he will meet strong opposition.
The struggle over the Radescu* cabinet goes on in Rumania. The
Bolshevists apparently intend to make tabula rasa. They are demand-
ing Radescu's resignation and the instalment of a democratic
people's government as they call it, in other words of a Soviet
bolshevist regime. Vyshinsky.t the notorious bolshevist mass
butcher, has now arrived in Bucharest. He will certainly do a proper
job.
Innumerable reports of bolshevist atrocities are now coming in.
They are horribly realistic and quite indescribable. I intend to give
international publicity to these atrocity reports. I shall do this at a
reception for the home and foreign press at which Colonel-General
Guderiant will read out Zhukov's order to Soviet troops before
their break-out from the Baranov§ bridgehead. To some extent this
order gave the signal for bolshevist atrocities. Though I do not
anticipate any immediate political repercussions, it will certainly
have some long-term effect.
At midday I had a prolonged discussion with General Vlasov.t
He is an extremely intelligent and energetic Russian army com-
mander and he gave me an impression of great reliability. We talked
first about the general relationship between the Russian and
German peoples. His view is that Russia can only be saved if she
can be liberated from bolshevist ideology and adopt an ideology
similar to that given to the German people by National-Socialism.
He describes Stalin as an extraordinarily cunning, indeed Jesuitical,
• General Nicolae Radescu was the last non-communist Prime Minister of
Rumania. He had been appointed by King Michael in December 1944.

t Stalin's Acting Commissar for Foreign Affairs.
t Chief of Army General Staff.
§ Marshal Zhukov, recently appointed commander of the Russian armies heading
for Berlin,had issued a bloodthirsty order of the day, announcing a "cruel
revenge" on "Hitler's cannibals".
H A captured Russian general who had deserted to the Germans in 1942 and was
put in command of the "National Army of Liberation": Russian soldiers prepared
to fight for Germany against Stalin.
28 FEBRUARY I945
being, not a word of whose utterances is to be believed. Up to the

outbreak of war bolshevism had only comparatively few conscious
fanatical adherents among the Russian people. As we advanced into
Soviet territory, however, Stalin succeeded in turning the war
against us into a holy patriotic struggle and this was of decisive
importance. Vlasov described to me the days in Moscow in late
autumn 1940* when the city was threatened with encirclement. The
entire Soviet top level had lost their nerve at that time; Stalin was
the only one to insist on continued resistance, though even he was
very depressed. The situation at that time was not unlike ours
at this moment. With us it is the Führer who preaches resistance at
all costs and carries all the others along with him over and over
again.
For me this with General Vlasov was most
conversation
encouraging. I that the Soviet Union has had to
deduce from it
weather precisely the same crises as we are now facing and that there
is always a way out of these crises if one is determined not to
knuckle under to them.

We then discussed the methodology of our anti-bolshcvist
propaganda. Vlasov emphasised — in my view rightly - that bol-
shcvist propaganda is extraordinarily adroit and dangerous. Propa-
ganda is in fact the strongest aspect of bolshevist poUtical activity.
This also explains why the bolshevist regime attacks German
propaganda with special violence. After the Führer I am the one
who is criticised with the greatest violence and hostility in the
bolshevist press. Our propaganda to the Russian people- and here I
agree with Vlasov - should be roughly along the Unes laid down by
Vlasov in his famous proclamation. We might have achieved much
with our eastern pohcy if in 1941 and 1942 we had acted on the
principles advocated here by Vlasov. But it is very difficult now to
make good our failures in this respect.
I have already emphasised that Vlasov seems to me to be an
outstanding brain. His knowledge of bolshevist ideology and prac-

tice can be very valuable to us. He has with him General Shilenkov
who at one time played a decisive role in the bolshevist party in
Moscow. I intend to receive General Vlasov again next week in
order to discuss with him certain practical questions concerning our
propaganda. Vlasov's information about internal goings-on in the
bolshevist hierarchy is of particular interest. In practice Stalin rules
Russia with dictatorial plenary powers. He is trying to exploit the
Jews for his own purposes while the Jews are trying to exploit him
*Presumably a slip for 1941.

10 28 FEBRUARY I945
for theirs. Even pledges his word he is by no means to

if Stalin
be trusted. Stalin an extremely cunning sly peasant who works
is
on the principle that the end justifies the means. Compared to

him what a piteous spectacle the Duce is, for instance. He now
lets it be known through newspapers that fascism intends to
his
revert to a two-party system. This is again some new quirk of
fascist intellectualism which is totally off the rails and now, to
cap it all at this stage of the war, is saying farewell to its own
principles.
I discussed with the Berhn Defence Council problems of the
defence of the capital. In this connection I can make use of General

Vlasov's revelations. General von Hauenschild* is now losing
most of the troop units from Berlin, in particular the schools and the
cadets. As a result he is short of men everywhere. We must therefore
call up the second Volkssturm levy and if necessary even proceed to
form women's battaUons. I even proposed the constitution of
strictly supervised units formed of the less serious criminals from
the prisons and concentration camps. As General Vlasov had told
me, this method proved extraordinarily successful during the
defence of Moscow. At that time StaUn had asked him whether he
was prepared to form a prisoners* division. He had constituted it on
the condition that amnesty would be granted for deeds of bravery.
The prisoners' division had fought outstandingly well. In the
present emergency why should not this be done here?
Once more a series of very heavy air raids thundered down on the
western areas of the Reich throughout the day. It is hardly possible
to record them individually. We are completely defenceless against
this raging enemy air war.
I am now in process of working out a new system of call-up into
the Wehrmacht. Previous methods have proved too compHcated

for the present phase of the war. The postal service does not func-
tion and most card-indexes have been destroyed - in short we must
now use some more rough and ready procedure to avoid men
released as fit for service in the Wehrmacht waiting sometimes four
or five weeks before being called into barracks. Graf Krosigk, the
Finance Minister, has written me a most instructive letter on this
subject. He has found out that men released for service from his
offices have sometimes waited over a month before being called up.
In addition I am carrying out a thorough check of the Wehrmacht
Construction Troops. At present there are still 250,000 men in this
corps, of whom at least half are totally superfluous. The Todt
• Commander of the Berlin district..

28 FEBRUARY I945 II
Organisation* can take over their duties in many cases and so these
Construction Troops can be released.
I am very pleased that the newspaper Front und Heimat [Front and
Home] is now^ reaching the front-line troops in far larger quantities.

Previous transport difficulties have largely been overcome. A
proposal has been made to me that the paper should now appear
three times a week; I think this is also necessary but unfortunately it
will probably founder on the paper problem. Re-establishment of
our troops' morale and will to resist is now of decisive importance.
Myspeech was carried over the radio at 7.0 p.m. I Ustened to it
again. Dehvery and style are excellent and I anticipate at least some
effect, although naturally I was in no position to produce concrete
victories as the best arguments. But people are pleased if one gives
them an hour's encouraging talk these days. I shall hear more about
its effect out in the country during the next few days. The speech
was heard, thank God, without serious disturbance from the air,
though just at the end we had the regulation Mosquito raid on
BerUn once more. Fortunately it was finished just in time.
The evening situation report announces that our troops in the
West have again succeeded bringing the Anglo-American
in
advance to a halt. Though under very severe pressure they have
maintained their positions throughout the day. The enemy has
made no progress anywhere. There is definitely no question of a
break-through. Today, therefore, we have scored an enormous
defensive victory. Very heavy tank casualties have been inflicted.
The situation in the Bitburg area, on the other hand, has
developed unfavourably. Counter-measures are being taken, how-
ever, which will probably reUeve the pressure.
In East Pomerania also the enemy has been unable to make
progress. We attacked his leading elements on both flanks so that
they were forced to halt to avoid being cut off from their com-
munications. It is hoped to clear up this somewhat critical situation.
Violent attacks took place in the whole area of Army Group Vis-
tula.! They were repulsed, thank God. Elsewhere no developments
of special importance to report except that the fighting in Breslau is
slowly nearing the city centre and is most bitter.
The Führer has instructed me to publish long articles on the Punic
* This organisation, founded by Fritz Todt, was responsible for all military con-
struction - roads, fortresses, communications etc. After Todt's death in an air-
crash in February 1942, his organisation, and his Ministry of Munitions, were taken
over by Albert Speer.
t A new Army Group, set up in January 1945, under the command of Himmler, to
defend the area between the Vistula and the Oder.
12 28 FEBRUARY I945
Wars German press. In addition to the Seven Years War the

in the
Punic War was the great example which we can and must follow
today. In fact it fits our situation better than the Seven Years War
since the Punic War was more decisive in a world-historical sense
and its effects were felt over several centuries. Moreover the quarrel
between Rome and Carthage, just like the present-day dispute over
Europe, was not settled by a single war; the question whether the
resulting ancient world was to be led by Rome or Carthage
depended upon the courage of the Roman people and its leaders.
THURSDAY i MARCH 1945
(pp. 1-22)
Military Situation.
The main centre of activity on the Eastern Front was in East Prussia
where the Soviets again attacked in large numbers but without
success.
In Slovakia attacks on Altsohl were less violent. On the Silesian
front the enemy regrouping. He made various unsuccessful
is
battalion-strength attacks between Strehlen and Görhtz. Fighting

round Lauban was particularly severe. Fierce house- and street-
fighting continues on the southern outskirts of Breslau. No special
developments on the Neisse front apart from attacks on Guben
where fighting is taking place on the northern and eastern outskirts
of the town. In the Oder sector an enemy break-in at Görlitz was
dealt with. In Pomerania the Soviets attacked northwards in
strength between Arnswalde and Rallies. At the same time they
renewed their attack on Pyritz where they were repulsed. They
made minor break-ins between Arnswalde and Kallies. This may be
the start of a major offensive aiming at a break-through but prob-
ably the object is to tie down our forces to prevent the situation in
the Neustettin-Rummelsburg area being cleared up. The break-in
was localised by occupying switch positions to east and west and
the enemy could make no further progress northwards. More
detailed reports of the progress of our counter-measures are not yet
available. Localenemy attacks between Heiderode and the Vistula
were unsuccessful. Offensive activity in Courland was reduced.
On the Western Front the enemy was again unsuccessful in the
area south of Goch. Penetrations were dealt with by counter-
attacks.
The major American offensive between Aachen and Köln is now
The enemy has committed all his available forces. Our
at its height.
own troops' conduct is exemplary; not only are they defending
themselves stubbornly but in numerous sectors they have also
14 I MARCH 1945
carried out successful counter-attacks to eliminate enemy pene-

trations.The enemy only gained an insignificant amount of ground
yesterday. The fighting is taking place some 12 km west and 3 km
south-west of München-Gladbach, also some 5 km south of Rheydt
and 3 km west of Grevenbroich. Counter-attacks are in progress
between Rheydt and Grevenbroich. On the Erft all enemy attacks
failed with heavy losses. Here too counter-attacks were made at
numerous points. In the sector east of Düren the enemy has now
reached the Steffel stream and south of Düren he is some 6 km
north-west and 9 km west of Zülpich. In the area of the main
offensive about 200 American tanks were destroyed yesterday. In
the area either side of Prüm local fighting was renewed. Numerous
attacks were repulsed and counter-attacks made. The enemy was
able to cross the Prüm at one or two points south of the town. In the
Bitburg area the enemy was able to push on farther towards the Kyll
at one or two points between Bitburg and Welschbillig. Here too
break-ins were halted in stiff fighting and in some cases driven back
by counter-attack. The centre of activity in this area moved south-
wards and equally in the area between the Saar and the Ruwer the
enemy turned north indicating his clear intention to capture Trier.
On the Zerf-Trier road the enemy reached Pellingen.
In Italy local fighting took place in the mountains south-east of
Bologna.
was again heavy enemy air activity over East
In the East there
Prussia. Our own air action in the Breslau area and over the break-in
at Rummelsburg was successful.
In the West there was heavy low-level and fighter-bomber air
activity mainly directed on Münsterland and Rhineland-
Westphalia. Our anti-aircraft shot down 10 enemy planes.
Kassel and the Westphalian area were raided by 11 00 four-
engined bombers. A smaller British force attacked the Ruhr area
and targets in the region of Gelsenkirchen and Essen. There are no
reports of enemy casualties yet.
Harassing raids on Berlin by 70 Mosquitos at night. Some 10
Mosquitos were over Nuremberg and the Munich area.
During February our naval forces, primarily submarines, sank 41
ships totalling 200,480 GRT and in addition 5 destroyers and 6
escort vessels; 13 ships totalling 75,900 GRT and 3 escorts were
torpedoed. The Navy evacuated 65 1 ,000 refugees to the Reich
during February.
I MARCH 1945 15
The enemy now taking a somewhat more sceptical view of the

are
possibiHties and prospects of the British-American offensive in the
West. They are primarily both surprised and astonished at the stiff
resistance offered by our troops to the American advance in the
München-Gladbach-Rheydt area. There is talk of fanatical fighters
outbidding each other in courage and determination. Even General
Montgomery has become much more cautious in his estimates. In
his usual way he shot off his mouth a few days ago and now has to
eat his words in some embarrassment.
The debate on the Crimea Conference is still going on in the
Commons. It seems to be a very heated one. Churchill is faced with
considerable opposition, even though at the moment it cannot be
politically active. There is widespread fear among the public of the
increase of bolshevism. People dare not refer to this openly, how-
ever, for fear of offending StaUn and the Kremlin. As a result the
amendment to the motion of confidence in Churchill put forward
by certain Tories, referring to the Polish problem in critical terms,
was lost by 396 votes to 25. This means, in other words, that over
200 MPs abstained; they probably belong to the opposition men-
tioned but at the moment do not dare come forward publicly. The
Commons is again bowing the knee to its allies, both the Americans
and more particularly the Soviets. Only a few isolated voices are to
be heard such as that of an influential Conservative MP who openly
Crimea Conference Churchill led Britain into a
declares that at the
poHtical Dunkirk and that Europe is heading straight for domi-
nation by bolshevism. Unfortunately, as I have said, these can only
be described as lone voices and at the moment they cannot do
anything practical. One Conservative MP
has resigned his seat
because he can no longer go along with and support Churchill's
policy.* As I have said, however, we have no reason at the moment
to pin any hopes on this development.
Eden had to attempt to pacify the restive opposition in a speech
following that of Churchill. It was made in remarkably subdued
tones. He stammered out one excuse after another, particularly on
the PoUsh question. He maintained that Britain had reserved her
position regarding the Lublin Committee and proposed to wait and
see what it did. Eden's statement was contemptible twaddle and
illustrates Britain's impotence in the present phase of the war. This
is solely due to Churchill's mistaken strategy and war poUcy.
Nevertheless he got his vote of confidence — and by 403 votes to nil.
* This is incorrect A Conservative MP, Mr W. Petherick (Penryn and Falmouth)
proposed an amendment on Poland, which was defeated by 396 votes to 25; but
there were no resignations.
l6 I MARCH 1945
I have the impression, however, that he has won a Pyrrhic victory,

for again there were evidently some 200 abstentions in the Com-
mons and criticism of the Yalta decisions has become so severe both
among the British pubUc and in particular in the Commons that it is
fair to assume that many MPs only voted for Churchill to avoid a
wartime political upheaval in Britain.
The opposition referred to above is growing not only in London
but also in Washington. Certain members have voiced the general
discontent in Congress over the Yalta decisions. Once more it must
be emphasised that, although people only refer to the PoUsh ques-
tion, in reahty they mean bolshevism on the one hand and Germany
on the other. Roosevelt is now being reminded that Wilson too
pursued a similar policy binding on America and that this was later
rejected out of hand by Congress. At a press conference Roosevelt
was forced meekly to admit that at the Yalta Conference there had
been no discussion at all about Japan. I think this may easily be true.
Stalin may have refused point-blank to be dragged into the East
Asian conflict. At Roosevelt's press conference, moreover, a few
guarded friendly words were addressed to us but I think the motives
behind them were propagandist rather than genuine.
Meanwhile in Rumania the Kremlin is largely disregarding the
Yalta decisions and attempting to crezte fails accomplis. Following
the resignation of the Radescu cabinet, the bolshevists, as they
admit in their press, are trying to clear matters up as quickly as
possible using draconian methods. In view of Soviet pressure
Radescu's resignation was unavoidable and we must now wait to
see how the King with his court cUque handles the Rumanian
conflict. Anyway Radescu's resignation has produced sensation and
embarrassment in the British-American press. Even The Times is
becoming somewhat impatient and takes a hard line over the Krem-
lin's pohcy. I fancy that The Times will frequently have occasion to
complain of the Kremhn's high-handedness.
I have in front of me an order to Soviet troops from Marshal
Koniev. It deals with the increase in looting by Soviet soldiers in the

eastern German territories. He cites a number of instances which
tally exactly with the information we have. In these territories the
Soviet soldiers are laying hands mainly on spirits; they drink them-
selves silly, put on civilian clothes, including top hats, and set off
eastwards on bicycles. Koniev orders commanders to take the
sternest measures against such cases of indiscipUne. He also forbids
arson and looting except when ordered. His description of what is
going on is remarkably informative. One deduces that, in the Soviet
soldiery, we are faced with the offscourings of the steppes. We have
I MARCH 1945 17
similar reports of atrocities from the eastern territories. They are

truly horrifying. They cannot be repeated in detail. From Upper
Silesia in particular information coming in is shattering. In certain
towns and villages all women between the ages of 10 and 70 were
raped innumerable times. This seems to have been done on orders
from above, since the behaviour of the Soviet soldiery leads one to
think that there is a definite system.
We shall now launch our major campaign against all this both at
home and abroad. Colonel-General Guderian has said that he is
prepared to read Marshal Zhukov's famous order in front of the
home and foreign press and then pubhcly interrogate a number of
officers who have returned to our lines from Poznan and have seen
the devastation and atrocities with their own eyes on innumerable
occasions.
In Spain Falangism is on the upgrade. One or two communists
murdered by Falangists have been buried. The Spanish press has
seized on the occasion to launch a very definite anti-bolshevist
campaign. But of course there is no serious poUtical move behind
this. Franco is a pompous ass; he puffs himself out Hke anything
when the moment seems favourable but when the moment has
passed he becomes timorous and meek again.
Obergruppenfiihrer Steiner* has been commissioned by
Himmler to move all units now in the home area to the rear areas of
the Eastern and Western fronts. In addition he is to form a new
Ninth Army from the units which I have combed out from the
Replacement Army. This is a large-scale project to which I will give
my warmest support. It is nonsense that there should still be
Wehrmacht under training today in Nuremberg or Bayreuth
units
for instance. The is to locate them behind the front in
right course
Brandenburg or Pomerania so that, should the Soviets break
through anywhere, they are ready to act. If as a result these areas
necessarily become overpopulated, I would be quite prepared to
reduce or even totally evacuate the civil population; our women
would certainly prefer to leave their towns and villages to make
room for German rather than Soviet soldiers, Steiner, moreover,
makes an excellent impression on me. He is energetic and pur-
poseful and is attacking his job with great verve.
In addition we propose to cram the rear areas of the fronts, not
* Steiner, one of Himmler's closest subordinates in the SS, had founded the
"Viking division", the first SS division of European volunteers. He was one of the
only three SS generals (apart from Himmler) to command an army. The others
were Sepp Dietrich (see below p. 17) and Paul Hausser. In the end. Hitler would
expect him to reheve Berhn. Obergruppenfuhrer=full general in the SS.
l8 I MARCH 1945
only in the East but also in the West, as full as we can with units due
for training. Then we shall at least have something available in the
event of dire emergency.
The air war has now turned into a crazy orgy. We are totally
defenceless against it. The Reich will gradually be turned into a
complete desert. Responsibility for this Ues at the door of Goring
and his Luftwaffe. It is absolutely not in any position to put up any
form of defence.
We are already being forced to make extraordinarily severe
reductions in the food ration and shall soon be compelled to make
even more. The loss of the eastern territories is now making itself
most painfully felt. Backe is in no position to draw up even a
conservative ration scale since he does not know what is available at
the moment or what will be available in future. We shall very soon
be forced to reduce by 35-50% the ration of the most important
items, fat and bread. As a result they will fall below the tolerable
minimum subsistence level. In some cases reductions must be made
straight away, in others we can allow ourselves until 9 April. One
can imagine what the effect on the public will be. Even if we
reconquer our eastern territories we shall not avoid severe short-
ages. To all our people's miseries that of hunger will now be added.
But, as we know, in this struggle there is nothing for it but to try to
hold out bravely.
Reactions to my radio speech differ. The public naturally
expected something more positive, in other words that I might be in
a position to offer the people sorne real hope rather than harping on
its courage. Sadly I am not in a position to do that. If, for instance,
my speech is criticised because I only made vague statements about

the air war, the fault lies with Goring not with me. I would have
preferred to say something positive about the Luftwaffe if the
Luftwaffe had been in a position to do anything positive. I think,
moreover, that in the near future the speech will have a greater and
more profound effect. The arguments used were directed to those in
the country whose hearts are strong. Provided we can persuade
them to give unreserved support to the decision to fight on, they
will carry the broad mass of the people along with them.
The situation this evening is again rather more critical. The
enemy has attacked in the West with the greatest violence. Admit-
tedly he has now thrown in all his reserves but he has made con-
siderable progress. He is now in Rheydt, my home town, and on the
edge of Miinchen-Gladbach. His armour has exerted enormous
pressure. It has already reached the outskirts of Grevenbroich and
formed bridgeheads over the Erft which we had planned as our new
"
I MARCH 1945 19
defence line. The enemy has suffered very heavy losses but he can
accept them provided he makes progress. He has also advanced in
the Prüm and Trjer areas and he is now 6 km from Trier. In the next
24 hours the city may be in danger. The bright spot in this
depressing news is that nowhere has he achieved a break-through.
That is, after all, the deciding factor.
In the East two now opened, in the Zobten
major offensives have
area and in eastern Pomerania. As far as the latter is concerned the
enemy has made some deep penetrations in the Arnswalde area. It
looks as if the Fiihrer's theory, which is also my own, is being
confirmed: that the Soviets do not intend to drive on towards Berlin
in the furst instance but to spHt up and cut off Pomerania. At
Neustettin too the enemy has advanced farther north. We are trying
to attack his flanks but forces available are not large. Very severe
street fighting is raging in Breslau. We propose to assist with
airborne troops. In East Prussia our troops scored another clear
defensive victory.
Heavy air raids all day over the whole Reich, in particular on
Vienna, Ulm and Augsburg. The less said on the question of the air
war the better. One can only say with Hamlet: "The rest is silence.
FRIDAY 2 MARCH 1945
(pp- '-32)
Militaiy Situation.
Fighting in the East again centred on the Neustettin— Rummelsburg
area where enemy armoured advanced guards, moving north-west
and north along the Bubhtz-Köshn and BubUtz— Schlawc roads
reached points south of Köshn and Schlawe. Our own attacks from
the Rummelsburg area, aiming to cut off the enemy forces which
had broken through, gained some ground but could not get
through. To divert our counter-attacks the enemy attacked in a
northerly direction north of Schlochau and pushed forward a few
kilometres towards the Rummelsburg-Bütow road.
The second main centre of activity was in East Prussia where
Soviet attacks were beaten off once more. Our troops fought all day
under the most difficult conditions and their achievement was
outstanding.
On the remaining front two enemy penetrations to a depth of lo
km between Reetz and Rallies are worthy of note. Otherwise no
changes in the situation.
In the Canadian-British sector of the Western Front the enemy
advanced a few kilometres farther south and was held on the line
Sonsbeck-Kevelaer. In the sector of the American offensive
fighting was centred on the Gladbach-Rheydt area where the
enemy is attempting to push farther north-eastwards. Our troops
occupied a defence Une between Venlo and Dülken as northern
flank-guard. The Americans advanced into München-Gladbach
and Rheydt and are now between Rheydt and Neuss engaged
with German troops moving up to counter-attack. Neuss and
Düsseldorf are under enemy artillery fire. The enemy scored only
local successes in the Erft sector. East of Düren the Americans were
able to gain further ground towards the Erft valley. Köln is also
under enemy artillery fire.
In the Bitburg area the Americans made only minor local gains.
2 MARCH 1945 21
In the area south of Trier they advanced north and succeeded in

reaching the eastern edge of the city.
Over the Reich some 1200 American bombers attacked targets in
south and south-west Germany. A
large British formation attacked
places in west Germany, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and the
Dortmund area. Throughout the day there was heavy enemy
fighter-bomber activity along the central Rhine and in the Rhine-
Westphalian industrial zone.
Some 800 American four-engined bombers from Italy raided
Moosbierbaum with a subsidiary attack on Marburg. Harassing
raids were made on BerUn and Erfurt during the night. Reports of
aircraft shot down are not yet available.
The situation in the West is increasingly menacing. The enemy is

again extravagantly jubilant. On the other hand Stimson, the
American Secretary of War, has been compelled to admit quite
frankly that American losses during the present operations have
been extraordinarily high. He says that our men have been fighting
like savage fanatics and that at present there can definitely be no
question of German resistance slackening. If in the West we could
not hold out at least on the Rhine, that would be very bad. Any
futher advance by the Americans would very largely upset our
whole pohtical concept. We are now at a stage of this gigantic
struggle in which everything is on a knife-edge and the fate of the
Reich sometimes seems to hang by a thread.
The debate in the Commons is now finished. In his closing speech
Eden made yet another appeal to the so-called Austrian people to
secede from the German Reich; he then executed a real sword-dance
round the question of Poland. He blandly states that the Lublin
Committee* has not been recognised by the British and that the
representatives of this Committee made an extraordinarily bad
impression when they visited London recently. In Yalta the British
were allegedly against the Lublin Committee. On the other hand he
does not refer to Stalin in this connection. In London people are
exasperated that the LubUn Committee should quite simply have
arrested members of the families of Poles exiled in London, the wife
of Arziszewski, the Polish Premier-in-exile, for instance. Eden
declares that Britain proposes to discuss with the USA what to do
* The committee of Polish communists which Stalin recognised as the govern-
ment of Poland, instead of the exiled Polish government in London.

22 2 MARCH I945
next. Nothing will be done of course since Britain is in no position

to do anything. What matters now is not what Britain wants but
what Britain can do and that is nothing at all. Anyway the result of
the debate was that, as he left the House, Churchill was clapped on
the shoulder by several MPs. This of course he is broadcasting all
over the world through Reuters. He has need of it since, despite his
vote of confidence, his situation is extraordinarily precarious.
In the Lords too the Yalta talks were thoroughly well criticised.
The Poland affair is, so to speak, the test case for British credibiUty
throughout the world. Churchill is now under notice that the vote
of confidence given him was not a blank cheque for his policy of
servility to the Kremlin. It seems to me, however, that at the
moment all this is mere talking round the problem. For the present
no political move is to be expected from England, still less from the
United States.
Roosevelt is now facing Congress. His speech is a hotch-potch of
phrases and repetitious mouthing of his old slogans from which it is
impossible to extract anything concrete about the Yalta decisions.
He talks about the prospective world peace and the Atlantic Char-
ter, on which he still insists; he says that the enemy's task is first to
knock out the Reich and only then deal with other problems, that
the knock-out blow can be administered with few losses, that
complete unity must prevail on the enemy side, that co-ordination
of military operations was most definitely achieved at Yalta and that
the United States still adheres to the principle of unconditional
surrender. The enemy, he says, has no wish to victimise the Ger-
mans, but Nazism and militarism must be eradicated and then
Germany is entitled to a good life in association with the other
peoples of the world. To cut a long story short we have here a fresh
edition of the seductive verbiage invariably employed by Roosevelt
when he is trying to achieve some political success. It is mere
insolence when Roosevelt says that he has seen the devastation in
Sebastopol. His conclusion is that between Christian decency and
Nazism there is a great gulf fixed. Of the frightful destruction
wrought daily by the American Air Force on unfortified and unde-
fended German towns he naturally says nothing at all. In short it is
hardly worth while scrutinising this Roosevelt speech. It is too
mendacious and too insolent for polemics to be initiated against it. I
now definitely take the view that German pubUcity should concern
itself somewhat less with foreign statesmen's speeches. They deluge
the world daily with fresh statements and, if we take issue with
them, we are indirectly making propaganda for them. The only
interesting point in Roosevelt's speech is that he referred to a
2 MARCH 1945 23
prolonged war against Japan. So he is preparing the American

public for the fact that they have still got to make considerable
sacrifices to satisfy his megalomania.
King Michael of Rumania has now commissioned Prince Stirbey
to form a new cabinet. Prince Stirbey was the man who conducted
the preliminary negotiations with the Anglo-Americans for
Rumania's withdrawal from our coaUtion. * Clearly the Rumanian
court clique is now at its wits' end and is turning to the Anglo-
Americans for protection against the Soviets.
I talked to Sepp Dietricht and he told me of the next assignment
given him by the Führer. He hopes to be able to start the operations

in Hungary, which have so often been mooted, in about six days*
time. He reckons that these operations will last some 10 to 12 days.
If all goes well we can anticipate enormous success. Then, he thinks,
he will be available for further operations in east Germany in 14
days. So far we have successfully concealed 6 SS Panzer Army's
concentration in Hungary from the enemy; at least no counter-
measures by him have been reported for the moment. In general
terms, therefore, we can count on major operations in the east
German area being possible by the end of March. We have a long
hard row to hoe till then, however.
Dietrich quite openly criticised measures taken by the Führer.
He complains that the Führer does not give his military staff a
sufficiently free hand and that this tendency has now become so
pronounced that the Führer even lays down the employment of
individual companies. But Dietrich is in no position to judge. The
Führer cannot rely on his military advisers. They have so often
deceived him and thrown dust in his eyes that he now has to attend
to every detail. Thank God he does attend to them, for if he did not,
matters would be even worse than they are anyway.
From a detailed report on the situation in Silesia I infer that
Schörnert has succeeded in re-estabhshing a semi-soUd defence
line. It is clear, however, that at very many points our forces are too
weak to initiate any counter-measures. In this area the Soviets are
using their old tactics and concentrating their effort at different
• Prince Barbu Stirbey, a veteran Rumanian politician (he had been Prime Minister
for a brief period in 1927) had visited Cairo in March 1944 in an attempt to
negotiate an armistice through the Western AUies.
t An old Nazi stalwart, commander of SS Leibstandarte (Life Guards), now
commanding the (Waffen SS) 6th Panzer Division, which had been transferred
from the West to Hungary.
t Col-Gen Ferdinand Schömer was the most Nazi of the generals and as such
Hitler would designate him, in his will, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army. For
his methods, see below, pp. 78, 80-81, 102-3, 248, 281.
24 2 MARCH 1945
points, so that there is always a danger of them making a break-

through.
In general the Soviet situation is described somewhat as follows:
their troops are extraordinarily well equipped but they are suffering
from an increasing shortage of manpower. The attacking infantry is
composed largely of workers swept up from our eastern territories
and Poles. Rations are described as semi-sufficient. The PoHsh
attitude to the Soviets in the Government General is hostile. They
know well enough what hangs over them once the Soviets have got
a free hand. In general terms discipline in the Soviet armoured
forces is said to be good. The main body of infantry, however, is in
pretty miserable shape. The Soviet soldier is war-weary. He can
only be kept going by the hope that he will soon be in Berlin and so
the war will come to an end.
It is reported from Rumania that the entire population looks back
with nostalgia to the time when the country was occupied by

Germans. Unhappily the realisation comes too late. Meanwhile the
Iron Guard* has set to work. As developments in Rumania itself
prove, however, the Soviets are keeping a very close watch on
them.
The air war is still the great tale of woe in the present situation.
The Anglo-Americans have again made very heavy raids on west-
ern and south-eastern Germany with damage quite impossible to
set out in detail. The situation becomes daily more intolerable and
we have no means of defending ourselves against this catastrophe.
Evacuation is now proceeding in a semi-orderly manner. The
question is whether we can actually transport great masses of
German refugees to Denmark, as the Führer wishes. There is no
knowing how this will develop in the immediate future.
We shall make a start, however, with a gradual reduction of
population density, in Berlin at least. Should the capital's situation
become precarious, we shall at least have removed a portion of the
population from the city.
As of the war, specially the air war, some six million
a result
dwellings have so far been totally destroyed in the Reich. This is a
horrifying percentage of the total of 23 million dwellings possessed
by the Reich in 1939. In general it can be said at the moment that in
Germany overall there is a shortage of nine million dwellings. After
the war, therefore, we shall face a monumental task in this field.
* Horia Sima's fascist had been opposed to the pro-

organisation in Rumania. It
German regime of Marshal Antonescu, but had enjoyed the support of Himmler
and the SS. After the overthrow of Antonescu in August 1944, the Germans pinned
their hopes on the "legionaries" of the Iron Guard.
2 MARCH 1945 25
Nevertheless I believe that with modern building methods we can

achieve a great deal. Before the war one reckoned that one building
worker erected one dwelling per year; it should be possible to halve
this percentage by rationalisation of the process. This means, there-
fore, that if we have to erect nine million dwellings and employ one
million building workers, it should be possible to solve the entire
housing problem in some four to five years.
Stuckart* tells me that OKW[Oberkommando der Wehrmacht -
High Command of the German Armed Forces] and OKH
[Oberkommando des Heeres - High Command of the Army] have
commandeered quarters in Thuringia — enough for 54,000 men.
How can command be exercised by a military machine with so
many men on its strength? The deadweight of such manpower
makes it so cumbersome that it is in no position to improvise.
As far as the German home front is concerned the following
observations are to hand: in general the people remain com-
paratively soUd. There is too much grumbUng about the officers
however. People try to lay the blame for all setbacks on them and
this naturally leads to a noticeable reduction of their authority
among the troops. It is too facile to ascribe the defeats of the last two
years to sabotage by officers. Things are not as simple as that. I have
therefore decided that at the next opportunity — perhaps during a
visit to the front - I shall say a word in pubUc to extricate officers
from this situation; there is no point now, when this struggle has
reached a critical stage, in starting to enquire who is really to blame.
The visible relaxation of saluting discipline shows that in the long
run such debates only demorahse the troops. The scandal of deser-
tions has seriously increased. It is suspected that there are tens of
thousands of soldiers in the major German cities who are sup-
posedly stragglers but in practice are evading service at the front. I
am urging as hard as I can that all leave for the Wehrmacht now be
stopped. In this critical situation no soldier has the right to go on
leave; it is the duty of all to fight.
In the letters I receive there is much criticism of our war lead-

ership in general and it is now also directed at the Führer personally.
People see no way out of the present dilemma. In particular they
fear that with the loss of our eastern provinces rationing restrictions
will be necessary very soon, which is in fact the case. We must
probably anticipate the most dangerous problems here.
Greiser'st behaviour is most severely criticised in a whole series
of letters. He is a real disgrace to the Party.
* State-secretary in Ministry of the Interior. (The Minister was Himmler.)
t Gauleiter of Wartheland.
26 2 MARCH 1945
Masses of letters continue to arrive containing high praise for my

journahstic and oratorical activity. In general my last speech has
made a good impact. Naturally it could not have an enormous effect
since I could cite no military victories, only setbacks. On the one
hand people particularly appreciate the calm with which I made my

statements, on the other I am occasionally urged to put more verve
into it. I think, however, that most people are now best addressed in
a relaxed rather than a hysterical tone.
Speer* is now at work re-establishing the transport network. He
has put 800,000 men on to repair of marshalling yards, primarily in
the West. If we can once succeed in clearing the marshalling yards,
traffic will run smoothly again and the numerous stranded trains
can get on the move once more. This is the nub of the problem as far
as our run-down transport system is concerned. In this instance
Speer is the right man in the right place. He knows how to get to the
root of enormously difficult problems. Moreover Speer has come
out one hundred per cent in favour of the fmancial reforms pro-
posed by Krosigk and that is quite right. We must get our feet on
the ground again as regards the money problem.
I am reading memoranda by Gneisenau and Scharnhorst about
preparations for expansion of the people's war in 1808. At that

time things were precisely as they are today and we must defend
ourselves against the enemy using the same methods as were in
vogue before the wars of liberation.
In BerUn we are faced with exceptional difficulties owing to
shortage of energy. Power stations in Berlin itself, but also long-
distance power lines, have been very heavily damaged with the
result that there is large-scale unemployment in the capital includ-
ing even the most important armament industries. The effect on the
air raid alert system is very bad. At the moment we are unable to put
the system into action at all.
Fuel for the capital is also very short. As Schach rightly remarks,
we are now hardly able to fill our cigarette lighters.
A long talk with Gauleiter Eggelingt who spoke of his worries
about the leadership of the Reich. Everything to which his criticisms
of detail were directed is well known to me. He can add nothing
new. His remarks were directed primarily against Goring and he
expressed surprise that the Führer still had not thrown him on the
scrap-heap. The Gauleiter are in despair over the Führer's lack of
decision on the most vital personnel problems and they implore me
* Albert Speei, Hitler's architect, who succeeded Todt as Minister of Munitions,
was now the economic dictator of the Reich.
t Gauleiter of Halle-Merseburg.
2 MARCH 1945 27
- as Eggeling does now - to do urgent and ceaseless battle with the

Führer in order to persuade him to make some change, at least in the
command of the Luftwaffe and the conduct of German foreign
policy.
I am very vexed with the newspaper Das Reich. Once again it has
pubhshed an article by Schwarz van Berk which runs directly

counter to our general theme. Das Reich's main characteristic is that
it plays the role of a sort of outsider. I shall now take energetic steps
to stop this. Instead the duty of Das Reich is to advocate our general
theme with the greatest possible degree of intelligence, perspicacity
and emphasis, not to go its own way.
The situation this evening is not reassuring. The enemy has
forced his way into Krefeld. He is now just outside Neuss and so has
made considerable gains of ground in this area which is vital for us.
The Erft sector, thank God, has in general held. There is no question
of a break-through at the moment. But the situation has become
very precarious. We shall probably have to withdraw in the Venlo
area, otherwise our troops are in danger of being cut off. The city of
Trier is now surrounded. In general the outlook for the next few
days is gloomy.
In the East too operations have not gone through as we expected,
in particular those initiated in order to cut off the leading Soviet
armoured advanced guards in eastern Pomerania. So far they have
met with no success. The enemy is pouring forces through the gap
and taking no notice of our counter-attacks. At Arnswalde the
enemy succeeded in making a deep penetration. His advance at
Zobten, on the other hand, was driven back.
I have had sad news. Eugen Hadamovsky, a member of my staff
and an old friend, has been killed leading his company in an attack.
He was shot through the heart and died instantly. In him I have lost
a fellow-traveller who has accompanied me tirelessly and faithfully
for many years. I shall treasure his memory. How much valuable
blood has been spilt in this war! But if one sits back and looks at the
world crisis which we are going through at this moment, one may
perhaps think that Hadamovsky is to be envied for the fate he chose.
SATURDAY 3 MARCH 1945
(pp. 1-30+143)
Military Situation.
In the East the centre of activity is still in Pomerania where the
enemy has massed in an attempt to break up and drive in our
northern flank. Between Köslin and Schlawe the enemy reached the
Köslin-Stolp road at the crossing of the Grabow. A German
counter-attack south-west from the Rummelsburg area recaptured
Rummelsburg itself and pushed on south for lo km but then met
very strong resistance and could not penetrate further. Our line
now runs some lo km north-west and west from Rummelsburg
and then east through Heiderode to the Vistula. The left flank of the
enemy salient in the Neustettin-Bublitz-KösUn area runs north
some 30 km west of Neustettin. Here again, after initial gains of
ground, our counter-attacks could not progress further. A second
focal point is the break-in area north of Reetz. Here the enemy
attacked northwards with armour and his leading tanks reached the
Stargard-Köslin road and railway south of Labes. Other enemy
forces north of Reetz swung west towards Stargard. At the same
time the Soviets attacked northwards from the Arnswalde area and
crossed the Stargard-Reetz railway at Zachan. In the Pyritz area and
also west therefrom between Pyritz and Bahn the enemy attacked
towards Stettin and penetrated to a depth of 6-8 km. Pyritz fell into
enemy hands.
In Slovakia the enemy continued his heavy local attacks south of
Schemnitz and east of Altsohl. Nothing of significance on the
remaining front as far as Breslau. Attacks on the Zobten position
were somewhat less intense and were all driven off. Between Löw-
enberg and Lauban and between Lauban and the area north-east of
Görlitz we gained as much as 8 km in a northerly and north-
westerly direction. No special developments on the Oder or Neisse
fronts. South of Küstrin, however, the enemy succeeded in widen-
ing his bridgehead west of GörUtz by a few hundred yards
3 MARCH 1945 29
reaching the high ground. Violent Soviet attacks in East Prussia

once more failed against the unflinching resistance of our defences.
Only near Zinten did the enemy succeed in making a minor pene-
tration. In Courland the day was quieter.
In the West the main pressure of the great American offensive is
in the area between Neuss, Krefeld and Venlo. On the previous day
the enemy had reached the edge of Neuss and yesterday he pushed
through Neuss to the Rhine bridges. North of this he advanced
some 10 km along the Neuss-Moers road. At Krefeld he reached the
railway station on the southern edge of the town. Severe street
fighting is in progress. From the Venlo area the enemy reached the
Niers south-west of Kempen. At the same time the British and
Canadians continued their attack south from Goch but without
achieving any noticeable success. The main pressure was directed
on Xanten. Enemy attempts to penetrate our new Une from
Sonsbeck to Kevelaer failed. The main fighting is now in the
wooded area west of Xanten. In the Erft sector and the area south of
Düren the enemy continued to attack with extraordinary violence
but there was no major change in the situation. We counter-
attacked the enemy flank between Neuss and Grevenbroich along
the Jiilich-Neuss road. The enemy succeeded in penetrating into
Grevenbroich and gaining some ground south of it. In the Erft
sector itself enemy attacks were repulsed; one or two penetrations
were dealt with by counter-attacks. North of Zülpich the enemy
was able to push on farther towards Bonn. Our troops are still west
of the Erft in this area. In the Eifel violent enemy attacks took place
on either side of Prüm but with only minor local penetrations. In the
Trier area the enemy increased his north-south pressure; he was
held on a line about 4-5 km north and north-west of the city. From
Trier the enemy succeeded in reaching the southern bridge over the
Moselle. In the Zerf sector enemy pressure was maintained; all
attacks were repulsed however.
Nothing special reported from Italy.
In the area immediately behind the Western Front there was very
heavy enemy air activity yesterday. Main targets for enemy
fighter-bombers and twin-engined formations were Münsterland,
the Rhine-Main area, the Rhineland and Westphalia.
Over Reich territory some 1250 American four-engined bom-
bers with strong fighter escort attacked Dresden, Schwarzheide,
Bohlen, Espenheim, Chemnitz and Magdeburg. About 150 British
bombers with fighter escort attacked transport targets in the
Koblenz-Neuwied area. According to reports so far fighters and
anti-aircraft shot down 35 enemy aircraft.
30 3 MARCH 1945
Some350 American four-engined aircraft from Italy attacked

Linz. A
few scattered bombs were dropped on Villach and Graz.
A less numerous British air formation mined the Skagerrak at
night. Harassing raids were made on BerÜn and Kassel. Three
Mosquitos were shot down.
At the moment we are having an extraordinarily hard time in the

West. The situation, as it has developed, gives rise to the greatest
anxiety and it may well be necessary to withdraw to the Rhine
unless there are reasonable prospects of holding out in the Erft
sector. We had never really visualised such a course of events,
although against this it must not be forgotten that the Rhine is the
best conceivable defence line for us. We do not lose much arma-
ments potential in this area since the existing potential had already
been largely destroyed by enemy air attacks. In itself this develop-
ment is obviously pretty miserable but it is no good moaning about
it. We must try to hold out at some point, no matter where, to await
the further course of political developments. They, at least, give

cause for greater hope.
Real wartime experience has now become the order of the day in
the USA which naturally does not please the Americans very much.
As certain informers tell us, the war has now become a day-to-day
phenomenon in the United States. Nevertheless the American
people do not face it with the genuine resolution shown by, for
instance, the German or Russian peoples. One strike succeeds
another and this time it is the miners' turn.
In England too strike fever has reasserted itself again. Labour in
the docks and ports stops work for trivial reasons. One does not
have to look far to detect political reasons behind these strikes. The
Kremlin is taking a hand in the game.
The Daily Mail has just made a truly sensational admission; it says
that for two years now I have been the only person to analyse the
case of Poland correctly and forecast accurately the way in which
England would succumb to the Kremlin. Churchill comes in for
criticism of rare severity. In general terms the Daily Mail entirely
supports our viewpoint in its estimate of the PoUsh problem and
accuses Churchill of mere monotonous repetition of the battle-cry
"Beat the Huns", what time England is slowly going to the dogs.
I am happy to say that at present my rating is extraordinarily high
both with the neutral and even with the enemy press. Neutral
papers, the social-democrat press in Stockholm for instance, praise
3 MARCH 1945 31
my last radio speech to high heaven; they describe me as a magician

of poHtical psychology and the most adroit propagandist in the
world today. It is a fact that, at the present stage of the war, vast
adaptability is required to talk both to one's own people and the
world and on the one hand tell the truth and on the other avoid
prejudicing German faith in victory.
In his recent speech to the French National Assembly de Gaulle
simply whined and lamented. He laid the blame unequivocally on
the Allies for the miserable situation prevailing in France at this
moment. France, he says, cannot live and cannot die. There is mass
unemployment in France such as has never been known before in
French history.
Belgium is in a similar situation, moreover. Starvation stalks the
country. The Belgian government too reproaches the Western
Allies in the strongest terms but they are in no position to make
even the smallest tonnage available to supply the peoples of Western
Europe.
Developments in Rumania proceed precisely as the Kremlin"
wants. The nomination of Prince Stirbey as Minister-President*
was a desperate attempt on the part of the Royal House to save the
situation. The purpose was to reinforce links to the Anglo-
Americans. The Kremhn, however, put a red pencil through this
scheme in that Vyshinsky, Stalin's representative in Rumania,
turned Prince Stirbey's candidature down flat and paved the way
for Petru Groza to become Rumanian Minister-President. Groza is
confirmed intellectual left-wing radical. So there is no further ques-
tion of a Kerensky; the term to use now is Uttle Lenin. It will not be
long now before the treacherous Rumanian Court and its boy-king
Michael are removed and Rumania itself incorporated into the
Soviet Union as a new republic.
In Poland the Americans would like to make a leader of the Polish
church into Prime Minister. I reckon that the Kremlin will laugh
itself silly over this proposal, for StaHn has never for a moment
thought either of reforming or dropping the Lublin Committee.
That was merely a little birthday present for the Yalta Conference
which was quietly withdrawn by the donor as soon as the con-
ference was over.
The Soviet advance in eastern Pomcrania has once more put us in
a critical situation. We had not expected it but should have done so
because we are too weak on all sectors of the front. It is therefore
quite easy for the Soviets to concentrate somewhere and then break
* See above p. 23.

32 3 MARCH 1945
through; we have to shuffle our units about to the hot spots hke a
fire brigade in order to plug the holes as best we can, suffering
severely in the process.
Alarming news comes out of Finland via Sweden. The Soviets are
now said to have stopped all traffic abroad from Helsinki, an
indication that they propose to repeat the Rumanian pattern in
Finland. The situation has become very acute and it has aroused
great indignation in London. The situation in Finland has reached a
stage when there could well be an explosion very soon. In Stock-
holm thereconsternation; the Swedes have no reason to put on an
is
airof surprise, however, for they were the people who continually
advised the Finns to embark on the fateful path of collaboration
with the Soviet Union.
At midday I had a long discussion with Stuckart about the
evacuation problem. He reported measures already taken in this
connection, those ready and prepared and those still to be taken. In
the Reich overall some 17 million people have now been evacuated.
This is a really horrifying percentage. One can imagine the resultant
conditions. At least we have the advantage that our standard of
accommodation before the war was was com-
luxurious. Stuckart
Pomeranian population
pelled to evacuate large sections of the East
helter-skelter and overnight. Some 800,000 people were set on the
move in this area. They had to be evacuated largely by sea since the
Soviets had already cut the roads as they advanced. The Reich has
now become fairly constricted. We have therefore decided to carry
out no more evacuations from the West. Even if the Anglo-
Americans advance in the West, people must look after themselves.
If we were to clear the western population out entirely, the interior
of the Reich would be so congested that it would be impossible to
accommodate people in practice.
discussed with Stuckart a provisional reduction in numbers and
I
an emergency evacuation of women and children from Berlin. He

has already taken the necessary measures so that we have available
billets for a total of i '5 milHon people. It would be good if we never
had to proceed to this measure at all, but it is best to be prepared for
the worst; we shall make all the greater effort to ensure that the
worst does not happen.
Stuckart also tells me officially that, should Berlin be attacked or
surrounded, he is firmly determined to remain in the city himself;
the same has been said to me by a whole number of other Ministers
and State Secretaries. All are clear that a battle for Berlin will be
decisive in this fateful struggle by our people.
I had a most serious showdown with Sparing, chief editor o(Das
3 MARCH 1945 33
Reich, concerning the recent^MX pas of which the paper has been
guilty. These will now definitely cease. I have no intention of
allowing Das Reich gradually to degenerate into a defeatist news-
paper. It must do justice to its name. Above all it must present a
beUicose aspect at this time and fly the flag of our resistance. During
our people's present battle for freedom and equality of status Das
Reich should fulfil the same function as did the ^Mgri^ during our
struggle for power at home. As a result it is intolerable that Das
Reich should continue to give vent to intellectual tittle-tattle. It
should present the German war themes in the most intelligent,
radical, intellectual and inspiring form.
Captain Klaas reports to me concerning his measures for dis-
tribution to the front of the paper Front und Heimat. In one respect it
is now easier to get this newspaper into the hands of the troops but
in another it is harder. It is easier since distances to the front have

now become shorter, harder because routing has now become
extraordinarily compUcated owing to the destruction of transport
communications. Nevertheless we must do our utmost to ensure
that the men have a good pohtical newspaper available twice and if
possible three times per week. In this connection I get very little
support from the WPR Section [Wehrmacht Presse Referent -
Armed Forces Press Office] of OKW. The section has just been
examined by a commission for the introduction of total war meas-
ures and it emerges that some 550 officers and men can be released
from it. I intend to concentrate all Wehrmacht propaganda in a new
section of the Propaganda Ministry and leave only a small residual
section in OKW; its duty would be to take the necessary technical
and organisational steps following the issue of political propaganda
guidelines by the Wehrmacht Propaganda Section in the Ministry
of Propaganda. In this way I have killed two birds with one stone: in
the first place I have released considerable manpower for the front;
secondly I have at last achieved co-ordination of political and mili-
tary propaganda which is urgently required and really should have
been done on the outbreak of war.
The enemy air terror has again raged over German territory.
Dresden, Chemnitz, Magdeburg and Linz were attacked. Up to 70
aircraft are reported shot down. This is obviously nothing Uke
enough to dissuade the enemy from overflying German territory,
but it is better than nothing. Recently hardly any aircraft have been
reported shot down.
I have been discussing with my staff a problem concerning the
initiation of total war which will be of decisive importance for the

system of personnel replacements in the Wehrmacht. All over
34 3 MARCH 1945
Germany people are complaining that thousands of soldiers are

travelling hither and thither by train, some with movement orders,
some without. These men represent a considerable slice of our
fighting manpower and on evidence so far available it is practically
impossible to catch them out. The arrangement henceforth will be
as follows: at the front there should be only one commanding
general with the right to give a man a movement order for the
interior; in addition we propose to intercept at railway stations all
soldiers without movement orders and form them into new
divisions. I beheve the number of troops we shall make available
thereby will be astonishing. In addition my view is that we must
take stricter measures, not only in this but also in other fields in
order to constitute new formations. The present organisation of the
German Wehrmacht originates from the good old days when we
could afford to employ men lavishly. That time is now finally past
and even the Wehrmacht is compelled to draw the consequences
from our new circumstances.
During the afternoon I was busy with the proofs of my new book
Das Gesetz des Krieges [The Law of War]; a very large edition is to be
pubhshed handy form. The book contains no topical articles but
in
rather basic studieson war, its philosophy and fundamental theory
which I pubhshed in previous years in Das Reich or the Völkischer
Beobachter. The foreword, written by Model, * is excellent and very
flattering to me.
News from the West this evening is sparse.
Pressure in the area of
the American offensive has noticeably increased. We are trying to
reduce it by counter-measures. By midnight there were still no
reports of gains or losses of ground.
In eastern Pomerania the situation has deteriorated further. The
Soviets have swung round in a pincer movement on either flank and
are clearly planning an encirclement. We are carrying out a relieving
operation in the threatened area to disrupt the Soviet plan. Schivel-
bein has been lost. Our troops are fighting excellently. There is no
question of the present crisis being due to demoralisation.
There has been no change on the Oder front. At Zobten all
attacks were repulsed and at Görlitz we even scored a modest
offensive victory.
The Führer has paid a visit to I Corps on the Eastern Front,
primarily to the "Döberitz" and "Berlin" divisions. The effect of
the Fiihrer's visit both on officers and men was enormous. I think it
* Field Marshal Walter Model (now commanding Army Group B in France) was
one of the generals whom Hitler trusted most cf. below p. 247. When encircled and
forced to surrender, he would (unlike Paulus) commit suicide.
3 MARCH 1945 35
right that the Führer should now pay more frequent visits to the
front to put an end to the nauseating rumour-mongering that he

does not pay sufficient attention to the front. He does so, but in a
way unimaginable to the simpler military minds. Nevertheless, on
psychological grounds it is essential for the Führer to show himself
in person, as he is doing.
This evening a speech by Gauleiter Hanke* from the encircled
fortress of Breslau was carried over the radio. It was movingly
impressive, demonstrating an acme of political morale worthy of
admiration. If all our Gauleiters in the East were Hke this and acted
like Hanke, we should be in better shape than we are. Hanke is the
outstanding personaHty among our eastern Gauleiters. One can see
that he was brought up in Berlin.
In the eveningwe again had the regulation Mosquito raids on
Berlin. The population of the capital is gradually becoming habitu-
ated to the necessity of spending one or two hours every evening in
the air-raid shelters.
* Gauleiter of Lower Silesia.A sound Nazi, he would be nominated by Hitler, in

his will, as Reichsflihrer SS in place of the dismissed Himmler. For Goebbels*
confidence in him, see below pp 63, 182, 271, 299, 323.
SUNDAY 4 MARCH 1945
(pp. 1-44+ 7a)

Military Situation.
In Pomerania heavy fighting continues against Soviet forces
advancing north. From his break-in zone betwêen Dramburg and
Labes the enemy advanced to a line just south of Regens walde and
Schievelbein. East of Schievelbein he crossed the Schievelbein-Bad
Polzin railway. Enemy advanced guards are some 20 km south-east
of Naugard. From the Arnswalde area the enemy advanced towards
Stargard and drove us back to a line just east and south of the town.
Between Pyritz and Bahn the Bolshevists reached an area 1 5 km east
of Greifenhagen. The enemy was able to advance farther west from
his break-in in the BubUtz-Rummelsburg area where our counter-
attacks were unsuccessful. He is now some 10 km south-east and
north-east of Belgard and is also between Köslin and Schlawe.
Farther east the enemy gained a few kilometres along the road to
Bütow. From this point the front is continuous; it runs some 20 km
south of Bütow in a general south-easterly direction towards
Newe. In fierce fighting the enemy penetrated deeper into
Graudenz which his artillery has set on fire. In East Prussia he
continued his attacks north of Zinten but without success. Heavy
attacks on Königsberg from the north were also repulsed. In Sam-
land we gained further ground in local offensive operations. At
Preekuln several enemy regimental-strength attacks were defeated.
We must reckon on a resumption of the enemy's major offensive in
the next few days.
No special developments on the Oder or Neisse fronts. Enemy
bridgeheads north of Fürstenberg and south of Guben were further
reduced by counter-attacks. Local gains of ground were made
between Görlitz and Löwenberg. Heavier enemy attacks south-
wards from Goldberg and against Zobten were repulsed and enemy
concentrations broken up by artillery fire. Heavy Soviet attacks on
Breslau both from north and south failed. An enemy bridgehead
south of Oppeln was driven in further. Soviet troop concentrations
were observed east of Schwarzwasser.
4 MARCH 1945 37
In Slovakia the enemy succeeded in driving our line back a little

sout of Schemnitz and east of Altsohl.
In the West British and Canadian divisions continued their
attacks between the Meuse and the Rhine but without success.
South-west of Xanten they were driven back by our counter-
attacks. The Americans advanced farther between Krefeld and Gel-
dern. Here the enemy is some 5 km east of Geldern. He succeeded in
crossing the Krefeld-Geldern road east of Kempen. Violent
fighting is taking place between Kempen and Mors. We are still
holding a bridgehead on the west bank of the Rhine at Oberkassel
opposite Düsseldorf A frontal attack by the enemy on the Köln area
was held along the Grevenbroich-Köln road some 6 km south-east
of Grevenbroich. The Americans crossed the Erft valley either side
of the Jülich-Köln road and headed for Köln. Here they are some
20 km north-west and south-west of Köln and engaged in severe
fighting with our troops. Between Düren and Euskirchen the
enemy captured Zülpich. In the Eifel local fighting continued on
either side of Prüm but with no great change in the situation. East of
Bitburg the enemy crossed the Kyll at two points. North of Trier
enemy armour advanced to Ehrang on the Kyll. Street fighting is
taking place in the eastern quarter of Trier. Local engagements only
in the Forbach area.
No special news from the Italian front.
On the eastern front there was heavy enemy air activity in
Pomerania and the Oder sector. Our own air effort was con-
centrated in Silesia.
In the West enemy twin-engined bombers, fighter-bombers and
low-flying aircraft were active throughout the day, concentrating
mainly on the central Rhine, Münsterland and the Rhineland-
Westphalian industrial area. Raids were made on Stuttgart and
Wiesbaden.
Some 1 100 American four-engined bombers with strong fighter
escort carried out raids on central, western and north-west Ger-
many, including Chemnitz, Magdeburg, Hannover, Brunswick,
Bielefeld, Hildesheim, Schwarzheide, Gütersloh, Erfurt, Plauen,
Nienburg, Peine and Nienhagen. According to reports so far
fighters and anti-aircraft shot down 20 enemy aircraft. During the
night some 500 British four-engined bombers raided Dortmund
and the Dortmund-Ems canal. Harassing raids were made on
Berlin, Würzburg and Emden. So far 14 aircraft reported shot
down.
38 4 MARCH 1945
A problem is now arising in that the population of the

difficult
western conquered by the Anglo-Americans is giving
districts
them a comparatively good reception. This I had really not
expected. Moreover I had thought that the Volkssturm [Home
Guard] would fight better than in fact it has. It must always be taken
into consideration, however, that these people have been totally
worn down by the air war and the severe hardships they have
suffered.It may be assumed, therefore, that when they have
recovered somewhat they will revert to their old attitude. The

Anglo-Americans are naturally giving extraordinary pubHcity to
the welcome they are receiving. They are clear, nevertheless, that
the friendship shown them is somewhat hypocritical.
Among our Western enemies extraordinarily severe criticism of
the Yalta decisions is to be heard. It is continually on the increase
both in England and in the United States as well. Mistrust of the
Kremlin persists and is fed by developments in Rumania and Fin-
land. A number of US senators have spoken out against Roosevelt's
pohcy without mincing their words. I can only emphasise once
again, however, that these indications of incipient recognition of the
situation are of no political significance for the present.
The workers* strikes now flaring up both in England and the
USA, however, are more important. One may conclude that in
both these enemy countries morale is sinking noticeably, par-
ticularly among the working class. The strikes are generally started
for trivial reasons— proof that the guiding hand of the Kremlin is
behind them.
The situation in Serbia is also described in extraordinarily
gloomy terms by British and American correspondents. Tito is
working industriously to shift the whole Serbian area into the
Kremlin's sphere of influence. The starvation prevailing in Serbia
provides him with the best possible conditions.
A remarkable statement has been issued by the US State Depart-
ment: that the United States henceforth recognises the Baltic States
and is granting their diplomatic representatives extraterritorial
rights. This declaration by the United States is barely com-
prehensible. The entire wartime political situation borders on insan-
ity. It is full of hysterical improbabiUties no longer comprehensible
to the outsider.
Meanwhile, however, Stalin is creating military ^/fi accompUs,
giving him an edge over Roosevelt and Churchül, A truly desperate
situation for us has developed in Pomerania. The position gives rise
to the greatest apprehension. Our front there has been spHt wide
open and for the moment it is impossible to see how we can
4 MARCH 1945 39
re-establish a firm defence line. A number of our best formations

have either been cut off or even surrounded in this area. We shall
naturally try to move up to the front anything which can be spared
from Berlin; but that again will merely be an invitation to Stalin to
risk an offensive on Berlin as soon as possible.
Matters have now moved so far in Finland that the Finnish
government has declared war on Germany. So the sequence of
events is: Mannerheim* capitulates to take Finland out of the war;
then the national ruling caste is slowly killed off; now Stalin cuts
Finland's communications with the outside world; finally Finland
has to re-enter the war on the opposite side. Such is the result of
Mannerheim's policy. Such is the far-sightedness of a Marshal
when he embarks on the slippery slope of poHtics.
Rumania too is heading straight for chaos and I do not think that
Finland will be far behind Rumania. The Soviets are now demand-
ing that the remaining Finnish resistance leaders be handed over and
they are hard at work side-tracking Ryti.
Horrible weather over Germany at the moment— snow, rain, cold
and an icy wind. I make use of Sunday to get some rest but naturally
work must go on.
Unfortunately there have been very heavy air raids on Germany
in the last 24 hours. They can no longer be recorded in detail. The
Americans overfly German territory practically unresisted and are
destroying one town after another; the damage done to our arma-
ments potential is quite beyond repair.
Around midday I have an opportunity to do some reading. I am
now immersed in Carlyle's book on Frederick the Great. What an
example to us and what comfort and consolation in these dark days!
One's heart hfts as one reads this account. There have been periods
in Prussian-German history when the fate of the country and the
people has been on an even sharper knife-edge than it is now. Then
there were a few great men who saved the people and the country; it
must be the same again now.
Nevertheless mihtary developments are such that it sometimes
seems as if we had Uttle hope of achieving anything noticeable in
this field. During this Sunday the enemy reached the Rhine at
several points and we blew up the Rhine bridges. The bridgehead
which we proposed to form around Neuss seems to have taken a
battering already. The enemy is now only 8 km from Köln.
* Field Marshal Carl Gustav von Mannerheim was President and Commander-
in-Chief of Finland. He had led Finland's resistance to Russian aggression in "the
Winter War" of 1939-4° and had brought Finland into the war against Russia in
1941.
40 4 MARCH 1945
Admittedly since the beginning of his offensive he has lost 960

tanks; but what does he care with his material superiority! He is
always able to replace material losses. We can only hurt him by
inflicting casualties on him.
The is even worse. There has been an
situation in the East
extraordinary deterioration especially in the Pomeranian area. The
penetration, or rather the break-through, which the enemy has
made here is disastrous. Soviet tanks are already outside Kolberg.
Our position in Pomerania may be said to have disintegrated
The enemy's two pincers have met and inside them are large
totally.
German forces which the enemy is now in process of splitting into
three disastrous pockets. Thisis a truly shattering development. In
addition the enemy has made most violent attacks on Breslau and
has now reached the city centre. In the Lauban area our counter-
attack has unfortunately been halted once more. In addition wc
anticipate an early large-scale Soviet offensive in the
Mährisch-Ostrau* area. Here we really must be able to counter an
enemy offensive successfully, for if we lose the Mährisch-Ostrau
industrial zone, we must visualise our armaments capacity being
unable to meet even emergency demands.
This evening I had a long interview with the Führer. In contrast
to last time I found him somewhat depressed-understandable in the
light of the mihtary developments. Physically too he is somewhat
hampered; I noticed with dismay that the nervous twitch of his left
hand had greatly increased. His visit to the front last Saturday went
off very well. The general officers put on a good show and the
soldiers cheered the Führer. Unfortunately, however, the Führer
refuses to issue a press announcement about his visit to the front.
Today it is our daily bread.
as essential as
As far concerned the Führer still
as the position in the East is
hopes to clear up the situation in Pomerania. He is moving up large
formations which should provide a breathing space. I fear, how-
ever, that these units will not be adequate to counter the Soviet
assault effectively. It is extraordinarily difficult to reorganise a front
once it has disintegrated. In addition Himmler is now laid low with

some infectious disease; he is still commanding his Army Group
from bed but one knows very well how difficult that is.
his
The Führer points out once more that, in contrast to the General
Staff he had always expected the Soviets to move on Pomerania first
and not on BerHn. So once again the Führer was right in his forecast.
In spite of this the General Staff disposed our forces wrongly,
* Now Moravska Ostrava, in Czechoslovakia.

4 MARCH 1945 41
concentrating them in the Oder area in front of BerHn. Himmler

also took the view that the first offensive would be against BerUn.
The Führer says that he allowed himself to be talked round by the
General Staff. Now it is too late, however, to repair the error. We
are now forced yet again to plug holes as best we can. It is incom-
prehensible to me why, when the Führer is so clear in his mind, he
does not insist on his views being adopted by the General Staff;
after all he is the Führer and it is for him to give the orders. The
Führer is right when he says that we must view the situation in the
East in perspective, comparing it with the position we were in, say,
four weeks ago. To this extent he is right when he says that the
situation is easier nevertheless. Four weeks ago the situation was
such that the majority of military experts had given us up for lost.
As the Führer rightly observes, people had turned up their toes in
Berlin and given the capital up for lost. If the Führer had not come to
Berlin then and taken a grip of things, we should probably be on the
Elbe today.
I tell the Führer in detail about my talk with General Vlassov,
specially about the methods he used on Stalin's orders to save

Moscow in late autumn 1941. The Soviet Union was then in exactly
the same situation as we are today. At that time she took decisive
measures which various important people on our side have neither
the nerve nor the energy to take today. I submit to the Führer my
plan to intercept soldiers on the move and form them into new
regiments. The Führer approves this plan. He also agrees that we
should now form women's battaUons in Berlin. Innumerable
women are volunteering to serve at the front and the Führer is of the
opinion that, provided they volunteer, they will imdoubtedly fight
fanatically. They should be placed in second line; then the men in
the front Une will lose all desire to withdraw.
As far as the Silesia front is concerned the Führer regards it as
temporarily stabilised. He is very pleased with the work done here
by Schörner. He also has high praise for Hanke's activities. He had
heard Hanke's speech on the radio and had been very pleased with it.
The Führer is somewhat worried about the Mährisch-Ostrau
industrial zone. The Soviets have concentrated very heavily in this
area and an enemy offensive in this area is expected in a few days.
The Führer is determined to make a stand in this area under all
circumstances, always provided that our forces are adequate. Our
blow in Hungary is due to fall on 6 March, in other words this
coming Tuesday. The Führer is afraid that the enemy already
knows all about our concentration in this area and has made the
necessary preparations. Nevertheless he hopes that our measures
42 4 MARCH 1945
will lead to complete victory. We have assembled first-class troops

undercommand of Sepp Dietrich for our offensive here.
The General Staff now sees the necessity for our offensive in
Hungary. Previously it had fought tooth and prevent prior-
nail to
ity being given to this area. Now it realises that the petrol supply
question is overriding and that we must under all circumstances
hold in Hungary if motorised warfare is not to come to a complete
standstill. The Führer is right when he says that Stalin has a whole
number of outstanding army commanders but no strategist of
genius; had he had one, the Soviet offensive would have taken place
in Hungary, not from the Baranov bridgehead. Had we lost the
Hungarian and Viennese oil we should have been totally incapable
of conducting a counter-offensive, as we are planning to do in the
East.
The Führer is naturally very worried about the situation in the
West. Here too the front may be regarded as largely disrupted.
Nevertheless the Führer is of the opinion that we must succeed in
holding the Rhine since it provides us with an outstanding defensive
obstacle. He has ordered that under all circumstances operations
must provide for the retention of certain bridgeheads west of the
Rhine. In the West we are shorter of equipment than of troops. The
Führer, however, agrees with me that we must call up and train
as many men as possible since shortage of weapons naturally does
now relieve us of the necessity to prepare troop units for possible
emergencies.
To some extent Model has lost control in the West. But he cannot
be blamed for doing so. The West was too thinly manned. As I
impressed urgently on the Führer, if we can really no longer hold
out in the West, then our last political war plan collapses, for if the
Anglo-Americans reach central Germany, they would not have the
smallest reason to enter into talks with us.
Our task now is to stay on our feet whatever happens. The crisis
in the enemy camp is admittedly growing to a considerable mag-
nitude but it is still questionable whether the blow-up will come so
long as we are still able to put up even a partial defence. The only
hope for a successful end to the war is that the split in the enemy
camp becomes irreparable before we are flat on the floor.
The Führer again gives vent to very severe criticism of the
General put to him, however, the question: what good does
Staff. I
that do him? He should consign the General Staff to the devil if it

creates so many difficulties for him. The Führer counters by quot-
ing Bismarck who is once supposed to have said that he could deal
with the Danes, the Austrians and the French but not with the
4 MARCH 1945 43
German bureaucracy. Bismarck, however, did not possess the

power which the Führer has today. The Führer is of course right
when he says that army reform in France was carried out not during
the French Revolution but during the Napoleonic wars. Stalin, on
the other hand, put through his army reform in good time and is
now reaping the reward. If our defeats now force us to do Ukewise,
it will come very day to produce ultimate success. The
late in the
Führer's view, however, still is that we must somehow succeed in
holding firm in the West and the East. For the moment, however, he
is not clear himself exactly how this is to be done.
The Führer is violently opposed to any steps being taken to assist

Anglo-American prisoners of war now in process of transfer from
the East to the neighbourhood of Berlin. There are some 78,000 of
them and they can no longer be properly fed; they are riddled with
lice and many of them are suffering from dysentery. Under present
circumstances there is Httle one can do for them. Perhaps it would
be possible to call in the Red Cross to help in producing a semi-
human existence for them.
The Führer takes a very hopeful view of the poHtical situation. He
too has noticed with satisfaction that the poHtical crisis in the enemy
camp is growing. I point out to him, however, that its progress is
too slow from our point of view. The question is whether we have
the time to wait for this crisis to develop fully. The Führer is right
when he says that England is very war-weary. He too had been
struck by Washington report that the USA was recognising the
the
Baltic States. It seems that a serious quarrel between the Anglo-
Americans and the Soviets is going on behind the scenes. But, as I

emphasise over and over again, the dispute is not deep-rooted
enough to afford us any reUef at the moment.
The Führer is convinced that, if any country on the other side is
willing to take the initiative in opening talks with us, it will be the
Soviet Union. Stalin is having the greatest difficulties with the
Anglo-Americans and his is now one of the countries hoping to take
some loot home from the war, just Hke us. As a result the moment
will come one day when he will be sick of quarrelling eternally with
the Anglo-Americans and will look round for other possibilities.
His tactics in Rumania and Finland, the Führer stresses, are really
alarming to the Anglo-Americans, to say nothing of the Polish
problem. The Führer forecasts that San Francisco will be something
of a diplomatic fiasco. But before we can start talks either with one
side or the other, it is essential that we score some military success.
Even Stalin must first lose a few tail feathers before he will have
anything to do with us.
44 4 MARCH 1945
The Führer isright when he says that StaHn is in the best position
to do an about-turn in war poHcy, since he need take no account of
his pubhc opinion. It is rather different with England. It is quite
immaterial whether Churchill wants to pursue a different war
policy; even if he did, he couldn't; he is too dependent on internal
political forces which are already semi-bolshevistic in character, to
say nothing of Roosevelt, who shows not the smallest sign of any
intention to change course.
The objective which the Führer has in mind is to discover some
possibility of an accommodation with the Soviet Union and then to
pursue the struggle against England with brutal violence. England
has always been the mischief-maker in Europe; if she was fmally
swept out of Europe, then we should have peace and quiet, at least
for a time.
Soviet atrocities are of course frightful and are a severe handicap
to the Führer's concept. But the Mongols once ravaged Europe as
the Soviets are doing today without preventing political progress in
settling the disputes of those days. Storms from the East come and
go and Europe must cope with them.
I submit to the Führer my propaganda plan for pubhcising Soviet
atrocities and my intention to use Guderian in this connection. The

Führer is in full agreement with this plan. He approves the idea that
prominent National-Socialists should be kept somewhat in the
background in publicising these atrocities since our information
will acquire greater international credibility thereby. Inany case it is
essential that people should be absolutely clear on what they think
of bolshevism. The atrocities are so appalling that the people cannot
be left in ignorance. One's heart misses a beat as one reads the
reports. But what good is it to moan about it! We must try to get out
of our dilemma somehow; it has now reached such proportions as
to be truly horrifying.
I then revert to the subject of the Luftwaffe. The Führer gives
vent to the most violent criticism of Goring and the Luftwaffe. He

regards Goring as the real scapegoat for the collapse of the
Luftwaffe. I put to him the question: why then has there been no
change in command of the Luftwaffe? The Führer opines that there
is no suitable successor. Industry's experts, he says, are miles
superior to those of the Luftwaffe. No outstanding brain has

emerged from the Luftwaffe itself The Me 262s have been in action
as fighters for the first time and achieved considerable success. The
Führer is somewhat hesitant, however, about using the Me 262s for
fighter defence on a large scale. He sees some hope here. Otherwise
he regards the Luftwaffe merely as a great junk-shop. But we have
4 MARCH 1945 45
all known this for a long time and we have all repeatedly put the
problem to the Führer; yet no change has been made in the com-
mand of the Luftwaffe and this is the reason for its decay.
I tell the Führer that Hadamovsky has been killed on the eastern
front and he is greatly shocked. He asks me to ensure that Dr

Naumann* does not go to the front under any circumstances. We
must keep our top level men together as far as possible now, since
we may have urgent need of them in this time of crisis.
I can add some additional details to the story of the Dresden
catastrophe. The Führer tells me that Frau Raubalt has written him
a letter bursting with fury and indignation. She behaved with
extraordinary courage during the Dresden catastrophe.
In this connection I tell the Führer that Magdat and the children
wish to remain with me whatever happens, even if Berlin is attacked
and surrounded. After some hesitation the Führer approves.
I raise the case of Fromm § with the Führer. Having been guilty of
cowardice in face of the enemy, namely the 20 July putschists,

Fromm undoubtedly deserves the death sentence, but with the
Peoples Court being run as it is at present no death sentence is to be
anticipated. The Führer reverts to the idea of appointing FrankH as
President of the Peoples Court. He would not be an ideal figurehead
but is nevertheless a political jurist. Apart from him we have no one
available and I cannot put forward any other name as a candidate.
In general the Führer gives me once
a very stalwart impression
more. He is totally unshaken by the blows to which we are
fearful
now subjected. His steadfastness is admirable. If anyone can master
this crisis, he can. Throughout the length and breadth of the land
there is no one who can hold a candle to him.
In any case our guiding principle must now be this: whatever
happens we are going to get the better of this crisis; if this is not
possible, however, we must endure it with dignity. We do well to
• Goebbels' State Secretary in the Ministry of Propaganda. He would stay in Berlin
to the end.
t Angela Raubal, nee Hitler, Hitler's widowed half-sister, who had kept home for
him from 1925 to 1936.
$ Frau Goebbels.
§ Col-Gen Friedrich Fromm, C-in-C Replacement Army, had been compromised
in the plot to assassinate Hitler on 20 July 1944. Once the plot had failed, he covered
his traces by ordering the instant court martial and execution of the conspirators,
including Stauffenberg; but suspicion laterfell on him and he was now in prison.
For his fate, see below, pp. 90, 127.

H Hans Frank, Minister ofJustice and former Governor-General of Poland. He was
an old Nazi, who had been Hitler's personal lawyer. An appointment was neces-
sary because the notorious President of the People's Court, Roland Freisler, had
been killed by a bomb dropped on his court on 3 February.
46 4 MARCH 1945
visualise everything and burn our bridges behind us. That way we
are most Ukely to leadour banners to victory.
I then have a short talk with Ambassador Hewel.
* He tells me that
Ribbentrop is now very busy trying to forge hnks to the West but
that for the moment there is no prospect of success. There is not the
smallest reciprocity either from the British side or the American.
Churchill's and Roosevelt's attitude is completely negative. This
has been made as plain as possible to us by our contacts both in
Stockholm and The Vatican. It is clear that, until we can chalk up
some military success, there is nothing to be done politically at the
moment. One might well repeat the cry: A kingdom for a victory!
As regards initiation of political measures to bring the war to an
end, at present it is too late on the one hand and too early on the
other. The present situation offers no prospects. Hewel also takes
the view that our U-boat successes are no longer making an
impression on the enemy; they came too late. Both the British
and Americans are still determined to annihilate us first and then to
see what happens. Hewel tells me that on various occasions in 1 94 1/2
Ribbentrop proposed to the Führer that peace be concluded with
Moscow, since in a year's time at latest the American armaments
potential would make itself felt on the battlefield; the Führer, how-
ever, turned the suggestion down flat. I do not believe this is true. In
any case Ribbentrop would have been at fault in not ensuring that he
had adequate support for this plan from other members of the
Führer's entourage. He has turned foreign pohcy into an occult
science which only he is supposed to understand and now he is
reaping the reward of his own ideas. Hewel thinks that there is no
prospect of doing anything political to ensure success. I am still of
the opinion that the blame lies primarily at Ribbentrop's door.
When Hewel tells me that Ribbentrop is totally discouraged at the
moment, this makes not the smallest impression on me. Ribbentrop
deserves more severe punishment than depression and dis-
couragement. He has been the Führer's evil genius, driving him on
from one reckless adventure to the next.
The general mood in the Reich Chancellery is pretty dismal. I
would rather not go there again because the atmosphere is infec-
tious. The generals hang their heads and the Führer alone holds his
head high.
I drive home late in the evening and plunge into work. It is still
the best medicine.
* Ribbentrop's liaison officer at Hitler's HQ. He had the title but not the function
of an ambassador.
MONDAY 5 MARCH 1945
(pp. 1-26, p. 19 overlaid)

Military Situation.
In eastern Slovakia all enemy attacks in the areas Schemnitz, Altsohl
and Nikalas failed apart from some minor penetrations. No special
activity on the entire Oder front as far as Goldberg. In the Breslau
area the enemy is regrouping. Our own attack at Lauban gained
further ground at low cost; in the Oder valley there was only local
fighting round the bridgeheads without change in the situation.
Mobile operations are now in progress in Pomerania. In detail the
Soviets gained ground north of Pyritz, drove into Stargard from the
north-east but were then held on the line Plathe-Raugard. Kolberg
is surrounded. Street fighting is taking place in Köslin. Between
Belgard and Kolberg our troops withdrew from Greifenberg on
orders. The northward Soviet advance in central Pomerania was
held south-west of Bütow, at Schlawe and west thereof Heavy
Soviet troop concentrations in the Heiderode area. Mass attacks by
a Soviet Army west of Grosswollental were held on the main
defence line and driven back. Very fierce fighting is raging round
the fortress of Graudenz.
In East Prussia battaHon-strength attacks were repulsed all along
the front.
In Courland too violent Soviet attacks at Preekuln and south-east
of Frauenburg failed in face of successful counter-attacks.
In the West the British continued their mass attacks and reached
the Geldern- Wesel railway Hne. Leading elements of the forces
which have been attacking from Venlo for some days reached the
area north-west of Mors some 6 km west of the Xanten-Mörs road.
On the Rhine attacks on the bridgeheads at Homberg and north of
Düsseldorf were repulsed. The Rhine bridges were blown at Duis-
burg, Krefeld and Düsseldorf Between Düsseldorf and Köln
strong enemy forces reached the Neuss-Köln railway hne with
their leading troops despite tenacious resistance by our troops.
48 5 MARCH 1945
Fluctuating fighting is in progress immediately west of Köln.
Strong enemy forces attacked towards Euskirchen from the Ziil-

pich area. At the Urit valley dam the enemy seized Gemünd.
Counter-attacks are being made south of this point and also in the
Euskirchen area and west of Köln. In the Prüm sector American
attacks gained some ground and drove our lines back a few
kilometres. The enemy succeeded in forming small bridgeheads
across the Kyll valley. Violent fighting continues in Trier. Local
actions only in the Zerf area, at Forbach and at Reipertsweiler.
In Italy fighting for individual mountain peaks continues. Enemy
attacks were repulsed along the Senio and at Faenca.
Owing to unfavourable weather, air activity on both fronts was
somewhat less than on previous days.
Over Reich territory 900 American four-engined aircraft with
strong fighter escort made daylight raids on transport and industrial
targets and airfields in south-western and southern Germany. A
smaller British formation attacked industrial and transport targets
in the Gelsenkirchen area. A large American four-engined bomber
formation from the south attacked Austrian industrial and transport
targets in the Wiener-Neustadt area. The German Bight was mined
during the night. In addition harassing raids were made on Berlin
and Bremen by high-speed aircraft.
In the lastfew days the daily OKW reports have been presenting a
dismal picture. At the moment we have no specially favourable
news to give regarding the situation either in Pomerania or the
West. Quite the contrary. One can imagine the effect of this on the
German people who are anyway very depressed over the severe
blows we have suffered in recent weeks. It is urgently necessary for
us to be able to report a success at least somewhere. I hope that this
will be the case in the Hungarian area in the next few days. But this
is not of great interest to the German people, although it is of
decisive importance for the war; how decisive it is difficult to make

clear to the German people, surrounded as they are by enemies.
Otherwise practically every OKW report gives the public an
enormous shock. Although people have largely got used to the fact
that we have to endure very heavy blows at the moment, in the long
run this engenders not fanaticism but a sort of fatalism. It does not
lead people, thank God, to neglect their everyday duties either at the
front or at work.
Naturally our western enemies' flags are flying high. People are
5 MARCH 1945 49
jubilant that Eisenhower has succeeded in driving our front back to

the Rhine. The news that the town of Rheydt received the Ameri-
cans with white flags makes me blush. I can hardly realise it,
especially not the fact that one of these white flags flew from the
house where I was born. At the moment, however, I do not even
know who is Hving in the house and I can only suppose that this
deed of madness was done by evacuees or people who had been
bombed out. It makes a first-class sensation for the Americans of
course, just as it is shameful and humiUating to me. If we ever return
to Rheydt, however, I shall try to clear the matter up.
Otherwise, however, our Western enemies are clear that our
withdrawal across the Rhine was carried out in an orderly manner
and that Eisenhower has not succeeded in disrupting our front or
annihilating our armies. They reahse that the Rhine is an extra-
ordinarily difficult and dangerous defensive barrier, particularly if
we succeed in gaining sufficient time to put it into a proper state of
defence. In any case they are quite clear that German resistance in
the West can in no way be regarded as crushed.
Eisenhower is now enjoying himself offering terms of surrender
to those towns west of the Rhine which we still hold and are
proposing to defend. These terms are naturally being rejected with
scorn.
Reuters have published a long significant article to the effect that
our situation is nothing Uke so catastrophic as is generally assumed
in London. We can still produce an adequate supply of weapons, it
says, and our manpower potential is by no means exhausted. There
can therefore be no question of an early end to the war. The heart of
Germany has not been affected by our recent set-backs. Reuters
foresee that our only major difficulty will be the food sector, which
in fact is the case. Here we must anticipate an extraordinarily severe
crisis in the next three to four months.
For the second time German high-speed aircraft have been over
London at night and this has naturally created a great stir among the
British public. It had not been thought possible that we were in any
position to do this. The British Home Secretary has been compelled
to reimpose the black-out in the London area which naturally does
not contribute to an improvement of morale among the British
people.
I by the miserable conditions in the Anglo-
set great store
American Food shortages in France and Belgium, for
rear areas.
instance, have reached a really grotesque level. The British and
Americans are now so short of shipping that they cannot spare even
one or two ships for food supply to the countries of the West. If our
50 5 MARCH 1945
U-boats can really be effective in this strained shipping situation,

the war in the West might take on a very different aspect. Once
again the OKW
report shows that 44,000 tons of British and Ameri-
can shipping have been sunk.
Developments in the countries occupied by the Soviets proceed
precisely according to plan, in Finland, in Rumania and now also in
Serbia. As concerned the Soviets are relying initially
far as Serbia is
on the increasing food shortage tomake the people ripe for bol-
shevisation. In Rumania things have gone further. Here the Iron
Guard is dealing out terror and provocation and the Soviets are
concluding therefrom that they must make tabula rasa in Rumania.
There is talk of fascist impudence, the worst vice in Soviet eyes, and
Rumanian pohticians who tried to make common cause with the
British and Americans are being accused of this. There is little love
lost between the Russians and London over all this, but the British
are now too intimidated and too impotent to dare oppose the
Soviets openly.
As far as the situation in the Soviet Union itself is concerned great
war-weariness is prevalent. People really wanted to put an end to
the war of the Barano v offensive but - so confiden-
after the success
tial reports tell us -
is now completely in the grip of victory
Stalin
hysteria. He is holding the Scydlitz Committee* ready so that he
can perhaps install it as a provisional German government provided
a psychological opportunity presents itself and he can risk so open a
provocation of the British and Americans.
Japan is hoping that Soviet neutrality in the Pacific conflict will be
maintained. The Japanese argument is that the Soviets are being
compelled to withdraw so many troops from the Manchurian front
that they cannot risk entry into the Pacific war.
Certain influential pohticians in Tokyo are working to over-
throw the present Koiso cabinet and adopt a pohcy of greater
compromise. For the moment, however, they have no prospect of
coming anywhere near doing so.
Fear of the Soviets is growing in Western countries particularly
among the miUtary leaders. Eisenhower, for instance, recently said
to an agent that if the British and Americans did not succeed in
making break-through in the West, they would have
a definitive
lost the warEurope politically.
in
The situation in Pomerania naturally gives rise to the greatest
anxiety, although Guderian is still of the opinion that we can
succeed in clearing it up by counter-attacks. On the map the pos-
• The "Free Germany" committee of captured German officers, headed by Field
Marshal Paulus and General von Seydhtz, who broadcast to Germany for Russia.
.
5 MARCH 1945 51
ition is simply terrible but one cannot judge a situation solely from
the map.
Dr former Governor of Warsaw, has fallen into
Fischer, our
Soviet hands as a prisoner of war. A fearful fate undoubtedly awaits
him. I had never expected that he would have the strength of
character to commit suicide in order to escape the consequences
now threatening him.
Roatta, the former Italian Chief of Staff, has escaped from the
military prison in Rome. A price of a milHon lire has been put on his
head. This traitor is now being attacked by both sides. His treachery
is costing him dear.
Limitless terror from the air! It is quite impossible to record the
results in detail. The eternal question everyone asks is: Where are
our fighters? It is raised with increasing urgency both at command
level and among the public. One . .
[Gap in text; clearly p. 19 of the original was inadvertently overlaid

with another page during copying]
... go to the rear, form themselves into groups and simply tell the
checkpoints that their officers have left them in the lurch. They are
merely trying to create an alibi for their own cowardice.
At a meeting of the Berlin Defence Council there was a con-
siderable rumpus with General Schönfeld, deputising for General
Hauenschild who is sick; he gave vent to unacceptable criticism of
the construction of defence works now in progress on the authority
of the Wehrmacht. It is now the fashion with the Wehrmacht to lay
the blame for anything that goes wrong on to the political agencies.
It happened in this case. I countered this tactless and somewhat
insolent way of going about things with vigour, putting forward

weighty arguments. I am now demanding weekly progress report
on the defences of Berhn with clear answers to the questions how
much food, how much petrol, how many weapons, how much
ammunition and how many fitmen we have available for the
defence of the capital at any one time. I find myself compelled to
demand such a report every week since there is naturally con-
siderable fluctuation in these basic ingredients of the capital's
defence and I must be and intend to be in a position to intervene
energetically should this fluctuationassume dangerous pro-
portions. The Wehrmacht is most unwilling to give me the figures
since it means that they must balance their books. They will not be
able to evade this requirement of mine however.
Now that Speer has taken the railways under his wing he is
52 5 MARCH 1945
refusing to release any more railwaymen for service and is even

demanding release of men from the Wehrmacht. I had anticipated
these difficulties; nevertheless the construction control com-
missions initiated for the Reichsbahn will continue their work.
We have made no progress in controlUng the innumerable
number of soldiers on the move. It is very difficult to find a simple
but effective procedure.
A vast amount of work today.
The evening situation report shows no major change as far as the
Western Front is concerned except that the enemy is now along
broad stretches of the west bank of the Rhine. Thank God, how-
ever, we succeeded in blowing the Rhine bridges in good time
wherever they were immediately threatened. The picture in the
West is obviously anything but pleasant but at the moment we can
flatterourselves that we shall be able to hold the Rhine as a firm
defensive obstacle without the British and Americans being able to
form bridgeheads across it. In fact we intend to hold such bridge-
heads ourselves on the left bank.
As regards the situation in the East our offensive in the Lauban
area is going well. Wehave made no great gains of ground but we
have infUcted severe losses on the Soviets, We have even created a
small pocket, though on a modest scale. The Soviets are now
withdrawing troops and equipment from the Fürstenberg area, in
all probability destined for Upper Suesia. The offensive on
Mährisch-Ostrau already forecast by the Führer seems imminent.
So there is no direct threat to BerUn at the moment. The situation in
Breslau has not changed noticeably. Developments in Pomerania,
on the other hand, are dramatic and unpleasant. The enemy has
captured Belgard and Köslin. The MiHtary Commandant of Kol-
berg — if he can so be called — made a proposition to the Führer that
the town be surrendered without a fight. The Führer immediately
removed him and put a younger officer in his place. Have these
degenerate generals no sense of history or of responsibihty? Does a
present-day Military Commandant of Kolberg nurture the
ambition to emulate a Loucadou rather than a Gneisenau?
We are now at work preparing large-scale counter-measures for
the Pomeranian area. I hope they can be set in motion soon. Our
offensive in Hungary is expected on Tuesday. If both these oper-
ations succeed, we should of course emerge in good shape. But it is
too much to hope that both will be fully successful. The situation
has become somewhat acute in East Prussia in that the Soviets have
made a number of deep penetrations. It is hoped, however, to deal
with them.
5 MARCH 1945 53
In the evening we are again confined to the air raid shelters for
hours. Berhn is raided by Mosquitos. In addition heavy terror raids
were made on towns in Saxony. Probably it is the turn of Chemnitz
this time. One hopes that there will not be a catastrophe here Uke the
recent one in Dresden.
TUESDAY 6 MARCH 1945
(pp. 1-45)
Military Situation.
No operations of special importance in Hungary. In Slovakia the
enemy continued his attacks in the Schemnitz-Altsohl area.
In the sector east of Mährisch-Ostrau as far as the region of
Oppeln and also between Oppeln and Lauban the enemy continues
his offensive preparations, so that an attempt by the Soviets to
pierce this front must be reckoned with. On the German side we
continued to attack in the Görlitz, Lauban and Löwenberg areas, the
purpose being to harass the enemy at widely divergent points, to
interfere with his troop concentrations and so prevent a strong
concentrated offensive Hke that in Pomerania. Our attacks in the
Görhtz area scored considerable local success. At Guben too Ger-
man troops improved their positions. At Lebus a regimental-
strength attack by the enemy was repulsed apart from a minor
penetration to a depth of only loo yards.
The main weight of fighting was once again in Pomerania; here
the enemy concentrated his forces and succeeded in piercing our
thinly manned front between the Oder and Königsberg, expanding
his break-through considerably. Advancing north of Naugard the
enemy reached Cammin and the area of WoUin. In the area of this
wide break-through there are German forces everywhere; some, as
in Kolberg and Belgard, are semi-surrounded garrisons; others are
major formations, concentrated and still fighting well; they will
undoubtedly be of great importance when we start major oper-
ations to clear the area. These latter forces are in the region between
Bad Polzin and Dramburg. Reinforcements, including the "Silesia"
Panzer Division, are on the move up. Soviet assaults on Kolberg
and Belgard were repulsed. The western boundary of the enemy
break-through now runs just east of Wollin to north of Naugard,
passes just east of Naugard to just west of Stargard and thence to the
Oder in the region of Schwedt. The eastern boundary runs from
6 MARCH 1945 55
Rügenwalde to Schlawe (which we still hold), midway between

Rummelsburg and Bütow and at Heiderode joins the
Heiderode-Vistula stop-line. The enemy has not, therefore, been
able to extend his break-through much farther east; all enemy
attacks between Rummelsburg, Heiderode and Hade were
repulsed.
Soviet attacks in East Prussia were less violent as a result of the
heavy casualties they had suffered on previous days. There was no
change in the situation. In Courland enemy attacks at Preekuln were
weaker. South of Frauenburg, on the other hand, the enemy went
over to the attack in greater strength and with air support; he only
achieved some local penetrations which were sealed off at once. AU
other attacks failed.
In the West Anglo-American attacking forces succeeded in push-
ing our defence Une back to the Rhine between Köln and Xanten.
We still hold some bridgeheads on the left bank of the Rhine,
however, for instance one of a 1 5 km radius round Wesel and
including Xanten, and others in the bend of the river at Rheinberg,
at Orsoy and opposite Hamborn, Duisburg and Düsseldorf In
violent fighting the enemy suffered heavy losses of men and
material everywhere before his superiority enabled him finally to
push us back to the Rhine. Our own losses also were heavy. At Köln
the enemy is now on the northern, north-western and western
edges of the outer suburbs. South of the city fighting is in progress
roughly on the line: western edge of Köln— west of Brühl-Brühl-
Euskirchen road. Euskirchen fell into enemy hands. Beyond Eus-
kirchen the enemy succeeded in advancing only 2-3 km towards
Bonn and about 6-7 km towards Münster-Eifel. The southern
pivot of the Anglo-American offensive Hes in the area between
Gemünd and Schleiden; the old Eifel front is still intact southwards
from this point. It is not thought, however, that this can hold out in
the long run. An enemy advance north-west of Prüm has now
produced a large westward bulge in the front. The enemy moved
forward here to an area 10 km north-west of Gerolstein. From the
area north-west of Bitburg the enemy made another troublesome
penetration, some 60 tanks advancing north-east from Kyllburg
along the Bitburg-Daun road and reaching Heidenbach about
12 km south-west of Daun. It has so far not been possible to stop the
enemy tanks. East of Bitburg the enemy drove forward about
5-6 km towards WittUch and is now about 1 5 km west ofthat place.
Several enemy attacks were repulsed north of Trier; east of Trier the
Americans reached the Ruwer valley at several points and crossed
the Ruwer-Hermeskeil road.
56 6 MARCH 1945
In the Forbach area violent fighting is taking place among the

fortifications. The situation remains unchanged however.
Activity is increasing in Italy. It cannot yet be termed a major
offensive but brisk offensive operations are in progress particularly
at Vergato in the area north of Poretta; here the enemy extended his
front of attack but could only achieve minor local penetrations in
face of strong German resistance.
Very heavy enemy air activity in the East was directed primarily
against Breslau which was bombed by some 1200 Soviet aircraft
attacking in waves. Numerous fires are burning in the city centre. In
Courland enemy tactical support aircraft were very active. Our
own air activity in the East was of medium strength and directed
primarily on the Pomeranian area.
Over the Western Front numerous enemy twin-engined bom-
bers and fighters were active throughout the day with their main
effort directed on Münsterland, the Rhineland, WestphaHa and the
central Rhine area.
Over Reich territory about 800 American four-engined bombers
with fighter escort of almost the same strength made dayhght raids
on north-west and central Germany and also on the Protectorate
[Bohemia]. Places raided included Harburg- Wilhelmsburg, Chem-
nitz, Plauen, Rauen, Pilsen, Hannover and Nuremberg. Industrial
and transport targets were the main objectives. A smaller British
four-engined formation attacked industrial and transport targets in
the Ruhr, mainly in the Gelsenkirchen area. So far 1 1 aircraft have
been reported shot down.
During the night a formation of 600 British four-engined
bombers with Mosquito path-finders and fighter escort attacked
Chemnitz. Harassing raids by Mosquitos were made on Berhn,
Hannover, Brunswick and Wiesbaden. A smaller British formation
from the south made a harassing raid on Graz. Soviet aircraft from
the east made continuous harassing raids on the Stettin area. Fifty-
nine of our night fighters shot down 20 enemy.
* * * *
Anglo-American military experts are very downcast at the fact that,

as they admit, the German armies have escaped across the Rhine and
moreover, as they expHcitly add, in good order. They accordingly
state that a new amphibious operation wiU be necessary since the
Rhine is as great an obstacle to miHtary operations as the Channel
was. They realise, therefore, that their offensive in the West has not
been a complete victory. The aim which Eisenhower had set him-
6 MARCH 1945 57
self, the annihilation of the German armies, has not been achieved.
Reference is made to a figure of 45,000 as the number of prisoners;
but even this is not enough to give the enemy any greater hope than
hitherto of an early end to the war.
The British-American military experts particularly eulogise our
rearguards, who did in fact fight with fantastic courage. It is primar-
ily due to them that our withdrawal across the Rhine was covered.
In the West there will probably now be a waiting period, for we
all know that the British and Americans are not over-bold in their
operations; they will therefore make sure of their supply lines and
make careful planning preparations for the Rhine crossing before
risking it. And yet on the enemy side time presses as never before.
There is fear that the U-boat war will now tear great holes in enemy
tonnage and as a result distress in the enemy-occupied areas of the
west will increase, quite apart from the supply problems for the
Anglo-American divisions. It is characteristic that the British
newspapers are stating quite frankly that in recent weeks both
Churchill and I have been right in what we have said when we
stressed that on the Western side the tonnage problem would be the
decisive one for the coming months. There is considerable hope for
us here. Our U-boats must get to work hard; above all it may be
anticipated that as the new type gets into action, far greater results
should be achieved than with our old U-boats, though these are
now fitted with schnorkel.
Rundstedt is again getting high marks in the enemy press. The
fact that our troops escaped more or less intact across the Rhine is
attributed to him. There is definite fear of the Rhine. The British
and Americans naturally reaUse that in the middle of Germany they
cannot carry out an amphibious operation Uke that of last summer.
There are far too many handicaps for that.
Churchill is of course once again visiting troops on German soil.
He is lazing in the sunshine of his fame. He visited Eisenhower and
Montgomery. Montgomery undoubtedly told him of certain
jealousies which have arisen between him and Eisenhower.
Sinclair, the British Air Minister, takes a very serious view of our
renewed air raids on the British homeland. From the purely military
point of view they are not taken over-tragically but by all accounts
they are lowering British morale still fiirther, particvdarly since the
black-out, which had been cancelled some time ago, has now had to
be reimposed in southern England and in London. It also seems that
our V-weapons are still causing considerable destruction in the
British capital, enough at least to have a lasting effect on British
morale.
58 6 MARCH 1945
mushrooming again. The British workers

Strikes in Britain are
are clearly under the impression thatby and large the war is already
won and that the time has now come for them to press their social
demands. In London alone 10,000 dockers are on strike. Troops had
to be used to load vital war material.
Bohle* has submitted to me a situation report on foreign policy
summarising reports from his representatives abroad; from it I
deduce the following: the British people are becoming increasingly
imbued with the conviction that all domestic and external difficul-
ties, the economic problem and all the misery of this winter in
England are due solely to the fact that the war did not end in autumn
1944 and the government had no alternative plans. By mid-January
the winter battle in the Ardennes, the intensified bombardment of
London by V-weapons,t the emergence of severe disagreements
with the USA and fear of Moscow's uncontrollable poHcy had
produced so widespread a crisis that the demand for an immediate
end to the war had become general. Naturally this was based on the
firm conviction that the threat of a German victory is over for ever
and it only remains for adroit poHcy to initiate rapid negotiations
with Germany and bring the war to a conclusion tantamount to
victory. This explains the sudden severe criticism of the govern-
ment's ineptitude from all those who continue to preach uncon-
ditional surrender in pubUc. The British were horrified by the
casualties suffered by the Americans in France, for they showed
what the British army might still face if the war continues and all
these years England has managed to avoid making over-great
sacrifices of blood herself As against this frame of mind and this
outlook on the part of the people the government is faced with
certain grave facts of life: first that Britain herself, important pos-
itions in her Empire and also France are to all intents and purposes
occupied by American troops; secondly that Roosevelt refuses to
deviate from the demand for unconditional surrender agreed at
Casablanca even under the impact of the bolshevist advance in the
Balkans and Britain herself is therefore faced with the acceptance of
very heavy sacrifices; thirdly that militarily Soviet Russia is operat-
ing even more selfishly and independently of Britain than are the
Americans and therefore, should agreed obHgations not be adhered
to, Britain's aims and desires in Europe become even more prob-
lematical. The inordinate intensification of anti-German atrocity
propaganda, together with the emphasis placed on prosecution of a
• Head of the Auslandsorganisation which existed to nazify Germans living abroad,
t "Flying bombs" (V-i) and rocket-bome bombs (V-2) which were launched
against London in the last months of the war.
6 MARCH 1945 59
brutal war of annihilation with the aim of unconditional surrender,

determination of the government to fly in the face
testify to the rigid
of pubUc opinion. The disappearance of any genuine parliamentary
opposition such as appeared in 1940 and 1941 when the composition
of the House was similar, the retreat or suppression of all revolutio-
nary elements and movements, and above all the practically irre-
placeable leadership of Churchill, make it comparatively easy for
the government to ride roughshod over all criticism. Meanwhile
the views of Churchill and his adherents concerning the war and
their peace aims have crystalhsed. Britain must be directly involved
in complete victory over Germany and only then can she, together
with the USA and Soviet Russia, v^dthdraw from the European
conflict. The unexpectedly successful break-through achieved by
the Russian offensive makes it even more urgent to keep active
operations going and reach early agreement with Stalin on the
principles governing the occupation and administration of Ger-
many, in fact of Central Europe, in the event of a German collapse.
Moscow has given it clearly to be understood that there is no
question of introduction of international commissions or Anglo-
Saxon participation in the occupation and civil administration of
areas occupied by Soviet Russia. Britain's main anxiety is lest
Moscow install a Soviet sateUite government, at any rate in the
Russian-occupied part of Germany (the cry is a Seydlitz govern-
ment), and so a communistic Germany allied to Moscow should
emerge; not only would this form a bridge to the communisation of
France and Belgium but it would govern the poMtical and ideolog-
ical development of all Europe. Enthusiasm for Soviet Russia has
already diminished in Britain and in the City; among broad sections
of the upper middle class a definitely anti-Russian poUcy is being
advocated but in fact Britain cannot for the present afford to forgo
Soviet Russia's friendship and co-operation, cost what it may. This
is reinforced by the fact that in no area of foreign poHcy has America
been prepared to support Britain in a firm stand against Moscow.

On the contrary Roosevelt has demonstrated at every opportunity
that he intends to improve and intensify America's relations with
Soviet Russia at Britain's expense. In this connection Japanese
poUticians pubhcly express the view that America will only revise
her attitude to Soviet Russia when the war against Japan has been
victoriously concluded or when it is no longer dependent on the
goodwill or possible participation of Soviet Russia. In addition
there are numerous indications that on its side the Moscow
government places great value on friendship with America and is
always ready to play America off against Britain. Britain has one
60 6 MARCH 1945
great question to resolve ift any negotiations with Stalin: Stalin

must be compelled to give an answer whether he regards the
Russian-occupied area of Europe as a Soviet sphere of influence for
the foreseeable future, an area in which the other Allies would have
no voice whether it be Poland, Rumania, Jugoslavia or occupied
Germany. If an inter- Allied settlement is refused by Moscow, Bri-
tain will demand, with or without American assistance, a similar
arrangement for herself in Western Europe and Italy and possibly in
a reconquered Norway and Denmark. There are many indications
that America intends to withdraw the majority of her fighting
troops from Europe as soon as the war ends, if not sooner. It would
be entirely in accord with America's present policy to stand aloof
from any political dispute between Britain and Western Europe on
one side and Soviet Russia on the other. America is not really in the
least interested in the fate of Europe except to keep it in a state of
mihtary and economic impotence. In the view of leading pohtical
economists in London the resultant position for Britain is as fol-
lows: (i) Only if Germany is defeated unconditionally can Britain
claim her heritage to lead and exploit economically the countries of
central and western Europe. (2) This can only be done if she is on
good terms with Soviet Russia and a clear delimitation of Russian
spheres of influence has been agreed. (3) The Americans are neither
capable of nor interested in taking trouble about or dominating
European countries. (4) All countries which have become directly
dependent on Russia will turn to Britain both from economic
necessity and from poHtical fear of Soviet Russia. Even a defeated
Germany is expected to act in this way provided it has not fallen into
the claws of Soviet Russia in the concluding phase of the war as
Britain visualises it. In general, people in London are still convinced
that a communist revolution in Western Europe can be prevented
by a foreign policy settlement with Moscow and that then the
democratic parUamentary system will keep the communists in a
permanent minority, always provided that the proposed hmits can
be set to Soviet influence. Otherwise Britain seems determined to
maintain her influence well into the post-war period by means of
military occupation.
Admittedly this report was written at the time of the Yalta
Conference [from 4 to 12 February 1945]; nevertheless by and large
it seems to me to describe the enemy situation correctly. One may
deduce from it that at the moment our poUtical prospects are nil.
But this can change from day to day, particularly if developments
in Soviet-occupied areas proceed at their tempo of the last few
days.
6 MARCH 1945 61
Bohle also submits to me a memorandum on the reform of our

diplomatic service which he proposes to hand to the Führer. It
contains many useful ideas, but there is little object in useful ideas at
the moment. Our diplomatic service should have been reformed
years ago. We are now paying dearly for the fact that we failed to do
so. On the other hand in this, as in many other problems, we no
longer have the time to spend on wearisome reforms. We are Hving,
so to speak, from hand to mouth.
Another treatise handed to the Führer by Bohle and dealing with
overall war poUcy merely repeats ideas which have frequently been
discussed between the Führer and myself So Bohle is telÜng the
Führer nothing new. In this connection it is characteristic that
Bormann proposes to refuse to submit such exposes to the Führer in
future since he does not wish to become involved in foreign policy
matters; in any case Ribbentrop is now so susceptible to such ideas
that they can be submitted direct to him. I think this is otiose.
Ribbentrop has been written off by the enemy to such an extent that
he is presumably no longer the appropriate person to make contact
with London or Washington.
As far as the enemy-occupied regions of the West are concerned,
it can be said that the onset of crisis, though slow, is steady and
uninterrupted. The starving rear areas of the British-American

front represent a great source of hope for us. A poHtical opposition
is forming here apparently leading straight to bolshevism, which
naturally the British cannot tolerate in the west of our continent.

Food riots are reported from all over Europe. Churchill and
Roosevelt have in fact succeeded in plunging this part of the world
into frightful chaos. The reports of the food situation coming in
from the Western-occupied areas make one's blood run cold. It
all
cannot be assumed that the British will take any stock of this for
humanitarian reasons but they will be compelled to react if there are
military repercussions which will probably be the case in the fore-
seeable future.
It is real naivete when the British government issues a declaration
that henceforth they propose to mediate in Rumania. They may

want to, but can they - that is The Soviets
will simply
the question.
refuse to discuss any British involvement in developments there.
According to one report submitted to me dreadful confusion
reigns in Croatia. The Ustase* are conducting a regime of terror
which defies description. Tito is the one who has the last laugh. In
* The pro-German, Catholic of the Croatian fascist leader, Ante Pavelic,
militia
who was known - of Hitler and Mussolini - as the Poglavnik, or
in imitation
leader. Pavelic escaped to South America at the end of the war.
62 6 MARCH 1945
fact he is proving to be a high-grade popular leader. In contrast to

him the Poglavnik cuts a truly piteous figure. He is only maintained
by German military might. Moreover I have the impression that
our men in this area of the south-east are merely defending chaos.
Confusion is so great that one can no longer make head or tail of the
situation.
Sensational news comes from Helsinki. Mannerheim is sick and
has resigned his office as Minister-President in favour of Paasikivi.
His illness is quite openly said to be a diplomatic one. He could no
longer do his job. In other words the Bolshevists have had enough
of fair words in Finland and want to see action. The news of
Mannerheim's illness has produced considerable shock in Sweden.
The Stockholm newspapers act as if they had never foreseen such a
development. They were the people who persuaded the Finns
months ago to come to some arrangement with the Soviets and
withdraw from the war. Now
all the forecasts which we made at the
time have come true.

The military situation in Pomerania is still extraordinarily menac-
ing. Apparently our counter-measures have come too late. In cer-
tain places the Soviets have crashed into them so that there is no
longer any question of an orderly concentration and we have been
able to do nothing large or effective. During the Sakharov operation
in the Küstrin area General Vlasov's troops fought excellently. But
it is humihating to read in an eye-witness account by officers of
these units of their impression that German soldiers were weary and
worn out and had no desire to advance on the enemy. Apparently
they were forever asking Russian officers and even more Soviet
prisoners: "How will German prisoners be treated by the Soviets?"
Clearly, therefore, many of them are toying with the idea of going
over to the Soviets as prisoners. Here again it is clear that, as far as
the front-line situation is concerned, we have greatly overcalled our
hand. We no longer possess adequate military strength to score a
decisive victory at a decisive point. Vlasov himself opines that,
although the Soviets have adequate men and equipment, they face
almost insoluble supply problems. They had a mass of tanks in the
Oder sector but were short of petrol. If we could penetrate deep into
their assembly areas, we should undoubtedly score a great oper-
ational victory. But again the question is whether we can! Changing
the railways from narrow gauge to broad gauge would create
considerable difficulties in our occupied eastern territories. In
reverse direction it is obviously a great deal easier. Vlasov is of the
opinion that the Soviets will not advance direct on BerHn but will
first move on Dresden, provided that we do not forestall them with
6 MARCH 1945 63
an offensive on our side. The Soviet soldiery too is extraordinarily

war-weary but it is inspired with an infernal hatred of everything
German, which must be ascribed to sophisticated bolshevist prop-
aganda. When Vlasov says that Stalin is the best-hated man in
Russia, he naturally says it pro domo. He is right in his contention,
however, that the Soviets are suffering from a serious manpower
shortage. They have manned all their rear areas with women and
this alone explains their astounding numbers of infantry.
Hanke's speech from Breslau has had an enormous effect on the
German pubUc. At last a National-SociaUst Gauleiter has made a
virue speech and has done so from an encircled fortress which he is
defending - in sharp contrast to Greiser, who prematurely aban-
doned a town which was not encircled.
The effect of my last radio speech is now slowly becoming
perceptible. I am receiving numbers of radio messages from the
front expressing complete soHdarity with my statements.
Chemnitz has been very heavily raided three times in the last 24
hours. It is barely possible to communicate with the city. Appar-
ently it has been the same here as in Dresden recently. In their time
the Saxon cities were fortunate in not being attacked from the air for
so long and now they are paying for it dearly.
The most varied agencies of the Party, the Wehrmacht and the
State are now releasing men fit for active service in considerable
numbers. The word has gradually got round how serious the situ-
ation at the front is and therefore how urgently necessary it is to
release men for the front. The Post Office, the Forestry Service and
the administration are voluntarily offering me drafts.
At midday I had a conference with the relevant gentlemen from
the Wehrmacht Recruiting Service concerning radical sim-
pHfication of our system of call-up. The officers of the Recruiting
Service give me an impression of total inadequacy, weariness and
senility. These are the types who have run the call-up system
throughout the war. One can imagine what bureaucratic top-
hamper there is and what drastic cuts will be required to adapt it to
the present military situation. Anyway I am determined to inter-
vene with far-reaching measures and put things right.
In the evening it is reported that the Americans have fought their
way through to Köln South railway station. South-east of Neuss
they have split our bridgehead in two and so reduced it con-
siderably. They have tried to find a crossing over the Rhine near
Krefeld but were driven back. The situation in the Euskirchen area
seems somewhat more stable at the moment and in the Schnee-Eifel
our troops have in general held firm. German counter-measures are
64 6 MARCH 1945
being taken at Trier and promise to produce some temporary or

local relief.
Our great offensive with Sepp Dietrich's Army has begun in
Hungary. No forecast can be made at the moment. First reports say
more or less nothing, merely that our troops met very stiff resis-
tance and have therefore made no great gains of ground on the first
day. The enemy is already taking counter-measures, mainly putting
very strong air forces into action. In the Lauban area minor gains of
ground are again reported. This operation is to be continued,
primarily to force the Bolshevists to withdraw forces from the
Mährisch-Ostrau area. The two pincers which drove forward at
Lauban have not yet been able to close but Schörner hopes that this
Then we should be able to reckon on capturing some
will succeed.
material. 136 enemy tanks have been destroyed in this area.
So far
The enemy made violent attacks on our bridgehead at Schwedt. He
clearly does not want his flank threatened during his next offensive,
whatever direction that may take. In the Pomeranian area he was
able to extend his operations. The crisis here is still most serious,
whereas in East Prussia and in Courland we held firm everywhere.
This evening I had a visit from Gruppenfiihrer Alvensleben,
Senior SS and Police Commander in Dresden. He painted me a
horrifying picture of the Dresden catastrophe. This was a real
tragedy such as has seldom been seen in the history of mankind and
certainly not in the course of this war. Life in Dresden is slowly
beginning to emerge from the ruins. Alvensleben had visited
Himmler who is sick in Hohenlychen. * He had discussed the whole
mihtary and poUtical situation with Himmler and given vent to
severe criticism of Goring and Ribbentrop. Himmler had expressed
a wish to speak to me as soon as possible. I got in touch with him
this evening and we agreed that I should visit him some time
tomorrow, Wednesday. I propose to discuss with him not only the
war situation but primarily all the outstanding personnel problems
in the poHtical and mihtary leadership of the Reich. It seems to me
now time to clarify all the decisive measures required in all fields.
We have not much more time to lose.
* A clinic near Berlin to which Himmler had retired to recuperate from the strain
of commanding Army Group Vistula.
WEDNESDAY 7 MARCH 1945
(pp. 1-33)
Military Situation.
In Hungary our local attacks between Lake Balaton and the Drava,
made in greater strength,were very successful and in the Kaposvar
area our forces pushed east some 6-8 km towards Osien. At the
same time, attacking from south to north across the Drava from
Viroviticar, our forces also moved forward some 6—8 km. Satis-
factory initial success was also achieved in attacks southwards and
eastwards from the eastern tip of Lake Balaton, in the area south of
Stuhlweissenburg.
In Slovakia the enemy continued to attack heavily at Schemnitz
and Altsohl. No special developments on the neighbouring front as
far as Mährisch-Ostrau. Enemy troop concentrations opposite
Mährisch-Ostrau and in the Oppeln area have been further rein-
forced. Nothing fresh around Breslau. BattaHon-strength attacks
on Zobten and at Goldberg were repulsed and our own local
offensive operations between GörHtz and Bunzlau were successful.
Small Soviet detachments were surrounded and some of them
annihilated. We managed to improve our positions north of Guben.
In the Oder sector activity was somewhat greater. The enemy
attacked in greater strength at Lebus and also from north, south and
east against Küstrin; attacks in regimental strength were made on
our bridgehead at Zehden; all were unsuccessful.
The Pomeranian area was once again the main scene of activity.
In the Stettin area our line runs from about the Schwedt bridgehead
to the west of Stargard and from here north of Gollnow to
Siepenitz. The enemy attacked this position at several points, penet-
rating to a depth of5—6 km east of Friedrichswalde and north of
Gollnow. The bolshevists reached the coast at Bad Dievenow north
of Cammin. Our own formations are stui fighting their way back
and are now west of Belgard, near Greifenberg and south of
Regens walde. On the eastern flank of the break-through a German
66 7 MARCH 1945
defensive front exists from Schlawe to south of Bütow; enemy

attacks here were not in strength. On the other hand he attacked
with great violence from a point north of Heiderode to the Vistula,
succeeding in penetrating to an area 20 km south of Berent, as far as
the Berent-Schöneck railway and to Stargard (Prussia).
In East Prussia enemy attacks were not in strength and were all
repulsed. In Courland too heavy renewed attacks south of Frauen-
burg were unsuccessful.
On the Western Front the Anglo-Americans concentrated their
efforts primarily on reducing the larger and smaller German
bridgeheads on the left bank of the Rhine between Köln and Xan-
ten. North of Xanten the enemy was driven off and the bridgehead
round Wesel was only sUghtly reduced. On the other hand the
enemy succeeded in crushing our bridgeheads at Rheinsberg and
southwards as far as Köln. Rheinsberg is therefore in enemy hands.
The enemy increased his pressure in the Köln area. Fighting is going
on only 100 yards west of the Cathedral. There is also violent
fighting along the Rhine highway from Köln to Bonn. Between
Köln and Bonn the enemy made ground westwards* and is now
about 12 km north-west and south-west of Bonn. From the Eus-
kirchen area he pressed on along the road to Bonn and also towards
Neuenahr. Rheinbach was lost. Our defence line then swings
westward south of Rheinbach and runs some 3 km north of
Münster-Eifel to the region of Schleiden.
In the Eifel the situation has worsened again. The enemy exploited
the fact that the area is only thinly manned and moved along the
upper Kyll to the Birgel area some 25 km north-east of Prüm and
into the wood south of Gerolstein. Armoured reconnaissance
detachments drove a long way eastwards along the Bitburg-
Daun—Cochem road, crossed the Cochem-Adenau road and
are now about 10 km north-west of Cochem. Fierce fighting is in
progress in the wooded area north of Trier between Bitburg and
WittUch and also south of Trier between the Ruwer and Zerf At
Forbach there were only local actions. The enemy has been rein-
forced here, however, so that a resumption of major operations
must be reckoned with.
No particular operations have been reported from Italy. A small
enemy seaborne raid behind our main hne in the Adria area was
driven off.
Our air forces shot down 20 Soviet aircraft in the East.
In the western zone, owing to unfavourable weather, activity by
• A slip for "eastwards"?

7 MARCH 1945 67
enemy twin-engined bombers and fighter-bombers was reduced; it
was mainly directed on Münsterland, the Rhineland and West-

phalia.
In Italyenemy fighter-bombers were very active all along the
front. Over Reich territory some 150 British bombers attacked the
Rheine area. During the night some 150 British bombers raided
Sassnitz. Smaller British bomber formations again made a harassing
raid on Berlin.
Although our Western enemies remain deeply impressed by the

fantastic fighting spirit of our troops in the West, on our side it must
be stated that the morale of our men is slowly sinking. This,
moreover, is explicable in the Hght of the fact that they have now
been fighting uninterruptedly for weeks and months. Somewhere
the physical strength to resist runs out. This also applies to a certain
extent to the West German population. Overall some three million
people have stayed behind in the region now captured by the British
and Am.ericans. They were simply not in a position to evacuate and
we put no particular pressure on them since we no longer have
enough room on Reich territory to accept such a flood of people.
Eisenhower's orders to the population are very strict. They are
not allowed to leave their houses and are tormented by every
known form of regulation. But to some extent they seem to be
happy that they are now finished with air raids. Wherever one looks
at our strategic situation it can be said that the fundamental ailment,
which has led to our present miserable situation on all fronts, is the
lack of air defence. This Hes at the root of all our setbacks.
For the first time Churchill has actually seen the results of his air
war. He was in JüÜch and, according to Reuters, surveyed the
expanse of ruins stretching from JüHch to Aachen with an air of
satisfaction — a repbca of Nero who sat high above the Eternal City
and strummed his lyre while Rome burned. A better symbol of the
chaos and ruin into which Anglo-American poHcy has plunged
Europe is hardly conceivable.
During his drive through the occupied areas Churchill addressed
the troops. His speech was larded with the old monotonous tirades
of hatred of the Huns. This gentleman, who can truly be called the
grave-digger of Europe, had nothing new to say on the war situ-
ation. He would do better to bother more about the fresh strikes
now flaring up all over the British Isles.
The situation in and around Köln has become pretty bleak. As
68 7 MARCH 1945
was to be expected, our Volkssturm battalions could not put up

adequate resistance. For the first time the British and Americans are
now seeing a great city which has been turned into a heap of ruins
and it will make a deep impression on them. I do not believe,
however, that they will stop their air war as a result; instead they
will intensify it, for they undoubtedly think that this is the quickest
way of ending the war.
In Köln too the occupation authorities have subjected the popu-
lation to the strictest regulations. This may be to the good from our
point of view since it will reinforce the somewhat sinking moral
resistance of our people at home. On the other hand one can
understand these people. They are overtired and so worn out that
they welcome a night's rest more than anything. But they only need
one good sleep and then they will be on the job again.
I cannot understand the fact that hardly any resistance was offered
in Köln. The city had been put into such a good state of defence by
Grohe that one had to assume that it would offer considerable
resistance to the Americans and cause them very great losses in men
and material. Apparently this was not the case however. It makes
one blush to read reports that the men found in Köln by the
Americans were almost aU fit for service. Had they been made
available to the front at the proper time, things would now be better
than unfortunately they actually are.
The situation in the West naturally gives rise to continuous and
increasing anxiety, primarily because the AlHes now have millions
of German people under their thumb. They are trying to govern
and administer in some sort of way. Significantly, they have cyn-
ically announced that the people best suited for this purpose are the
pastors. They have placed themselves at the disposal of the Allied
troops in every way. I never expected anything else. The young
people, they say, are proving extraordinarily refractory and there is
simply nothing to be done with them. One member of the Hitler
Youth, who was taken to hospital owing to illness, is said to have
complained that he had not been sent to prison.
severe devastation of German cities wreaked by the enemy
The
air forceshas led the British government to make repeated reference
to the damage in London. As a result one gets extraordinarily
interesting information - that one-third of the British capital has
been laid waste, for instance.
Eden has yet again reverted in the Commons to the subject of war
criminals. He describes Ribbentrop and me as the leading and
greatest war criminals. This merely a great honour for me and I
is
am quite prepared to put up with this description. Otherwise Eden

7 MARCH 1945 69
only trotted out futile reasons for the fact that at the Yalta Con-
ference the British had said that they agreed with the cession of East
Prussia to Poland.
The Congress of European Socialists is meeting in London. It has
set out a remarkably more tolerant programme as the condition for
German capitulation.
The British Labour Party has realigned itself to a certain extent;
clearly cannot altogether go along with Churchill's rigid war
it
policy. a result of the wave of radical opinion now noticeable

As
in England, as elsewhere, it has undoubtedly become somewhat
suspicious and is afraid that it will lose control of the broad
masses.
Reports on the foreign political situation are all couched in the
same vein - that the Allies have not the smallest intention of being in
any way concihatory towards us, that militarily they are working in
complete agreement with the Soviet Union, that, as an instance,
they are now passing large food convoys through the Dardanelles
to assist the Soviets in their very tight food situation. It is reported
from Japan that a violent conflict has arisen between the moderate
and the radical strategists - just as in our case. The moderate
strategists are based mainly on the Fleet and the radicals on the
Army, which has always been extraordinarily intransigent in Japan.
The Finland crisis is growing all the time. It is creating an enorm-
ous stir abroad both among our enemies and even more among the
neutrals. The Swedish press expresses extraordinary surprise but it
has no reason to do so for the reasons so often set out here.
The escape of the traitor General Roatta has provoked a serious
government crisis in Italy. A red rising of considerable dimensions
is raging in Rome. The communists have organised gigantic pro-
cessions and hoisted the Red Flag on the Capitol. Bono mi* is in
great difficulties. The rising is markedly communist in nature, as
the British exphcitly point out. I do not think, however, that they
will draw any conclusions from this fact.
Guderian's statement on bolshevist atrocities to the home and
foreign press in BerHn has not made the impact that I had hoped for
and expected. Guderian's talk was too emotional and flowery and
the witnesses who were interrogated were somewhat tired, having
had to make statements previously to all sorts of agencies, so that
they did not answer briskly and naturally. This is the reason why
this presentation has not made the impact that I had really expected
in the neutral press. In Stockholm the statements were derided and
* Prime Minister of Italy since 1944.

70 7 MARCH 1945
held up to ridicule. One can only have pity for this decadent
bourgeois world whose representatives are no more than the
proverbial fatted calves choosing their butcher.
There is no point in saying much more about the air war. We are
bombed uninterruptedly day and night and damage to our housing
and armaments potential is very severe. We have nothing worth
mentioning with which to oppose the enemy aerial armadas. Last
night it was the turn of Sassnitz. Much damage was done to the
remnants of our high-seas fleet. A report from Chemnitz says that
the situation there is fairly desperate. We
must move in central
government assistance to help the city through the worst.
As commissioned by Himmler, General Gottberg* has now
started a major campaign to comb railway stations for soldiers
traveUing around. He has had substantial success right from the
start. The campaign cannot go on indefmitely, however, because a
number of highly important official journeys will of course be
stopped thereby. In addition OKW
must screen its senior-level
headquarters for soldiers fit for active service. I am told that Keitelt
has ordered no trains to be held ready in BerUn to evacuate OKW
and OKH. These fugitives will never understand. I would Hke to
know when they wül finally make up their minds to stay where
they are and defend themselves, cost what it may.
New and highly complex problems and troubles are continually
arising as regards BerUn. The capital is at present in an extra-
ordinarily tense situation from every point of view but I must still
make every effort to ensure that it is in good trim to defend itself
One can imagine what that impHes. In the afternoon I drive out to
Himmler to have a long talk with him. The drive through BerHn
shatters me somewhat. It is some time since I have seen the heap of
ruins into which the Reich capital has been transformed. Every-
where, however, barricades are to be seen mushrooming. If we had
adequate soldiers and weapons Berlin could be defended for as long
as anyone hkes. On the way we meet one refugee convoy after
another, mostly Black Sea Germans. $ The type of people entering
the Reich calling themselves German is not exactly exhilarating. I
think there are more Germanic types entering the Reich from the
west by force of arms than there are Germanic types coming in
peacefully from the east.
* Curt von Gottbcrg was a General in the SS (Obergruppenführer). He had been
Himmler's Commissioner in White Ruthenia.

t Chief of General Staff of the Wehrmacht (OKW).
t i.e. "Auslandsdeutsche" - German families long settled in Russia and now forced
to flee for safety to Germany.
7 MARCH 1945 71
The drive through Mecklenburg is like a tonic. The country is

totally undamaged and exudes complete peace. At a casual glance
there is nothing to show that there is a war on.
Himmler is in Hohenlychen under medical care. He has had a bad
attack of angina but is now on the mend. He gives me a slightly frail
impression. Nevertheless we were able to have a long talk about all
outstanding questions. In general Himmler's attitude is good. He is
one of our strongest personalities. During our two-hour discussion
I established that we are in complete agreement in our estimate of
the general situation so that I need hardly refer to that. He used

strong language about Goring and Ribbentrop, whom he regards as
the two main sources of error in our general conduct of the war, and
in this he is absolutely right. But he has no more idea than I how to
persuade the Führer to cut loose from them both and replace them
with fresh strong personalities. I told him of my last interview but
one with the Führer, whose attention I had drawn to the fact that
retention of Goring in particular is threatening to lead to a crisis of
state, if it has not already done so. Himmler enquired in detail how
the Führer had reacted to these remarks. The Führer was indeed
much impressed but for the moment he has not drawn the con-
sequences.
As concerned Himmler is extremely worried,
far as the front is
particularly about developments in Pomerania and the West. At
present, however, he is even more worried about the food situation,
the outlook for which is pretty gloomy over the next few months.
The morale of the troops has undoubtedly been affected. This
Himmler admits on the basis of his experience with Army Group
Vistula. Another factor is that neither in the miUtary nor the civiUan
sector have we strong central leadership because everything has to
be referred to the Führer and that can only be done in a small
number of cases. In every field Goring and Ribbentrop are obstacles
to successful conduct of the war. But what can one do? One cannot,
after all, actually force the Führer to divorce himself from them.
Himmler summarises the situation correctly when he says that his
mind tells him that we have little hope of winning the war mihtarily
but instinct tells him that sooner or later some poHtical opening will
emerge to swing it in our favour. Himmler thinks this more likely
in the West than the East. He thinks that England will come to her
senses, which I rather doubt. As his remarks show, Himmler is
entirely Western-oriented; from the East he expects nothing what-
soever. I still think that something is more Hkely to be achieved in
the East since Stalin seems to me more realistic than the trigger-
happy Anglo-American. We must be clear of course that, if we
72 7 MARCH 1945
manage to reach a peace settlement, it will be a small and modest

one. The prior condition for this is that we stand firm somewhere,
for if we are flat on the floor we can no longer negotiate with the
enemy. The entire strength of the Reich must be concentrated to
this end.
Himmler agrees that we should locate troops now training in
barracks behind the Western and Eastern Fronts as a cushion. So far
Jüttner* has resisted this tooth and nail. Himmler will accordingly
summon Jüttner and give him a piece of his mind. General Kleiner,
Jüttner's closest associate, is the one who is calling the tune and he is
in agreement with Colonel-General Fromm's policy.
discussed the Fromm case with Himmler in detail. That morn-
I
ing Kaltenbrunnert had taken steps to ensure that current pro-

ceedings against Fromm are conducted with greater energy than has
been the case so far. During the initial stage of his trial Fromm took
complete control of the proceedings.
With Himmler the atmosphere is orderly, unpretentious and one
hundred per cent National-SociaUst, which is most refreshing. One
can only rejoice that with Himmler the old National-Socialist spirit
still prevails.
During the drive home I have an opportunity to think over all
that we discussed. The drive through the darkening countryside in

the dusk was impressive. Again and again we met columns of
refugees on the move; they almost seemed to symbolise this gigan-
tic war.
Barely had I arrived in BerHn than I had to plunge into work
again. Mountains of it had piled up during the few hours I was
away.
As far as the situation this evening is concerned, it is reported
from Hungary our troops are meeting extraordinarily stiff
that
resistance. They were consequently unable to make any very great
gains of ground. In Pomerania the situation has deteriorated
further, as it has in west Prussia. There is a danger of our troops
being spht up into small packets. Our offensive operations at
Lauban had some success.
Gauleiter Stöhrt telephones me and complains bitterly about the
sinking morale of the troops, which unfortunately is a fact. To some
extent the population is being infected by it and Stöhr proposes to
* Max Jüttner was chief of the SS operational headquarters (SS-Führung-
shauptamt).
t Head of the RSHA or Reich Security Main Office of the SS, which controlled
Himmlcr's Secret Police and Secret Intelhgcnce.
t Gauleiter of the Saar.
7 MARCH 1945 73
make a public pronouncement over the wired broadcasting system

in an attempt to reinforce morale.
The enemy has advanced through Bonn towards Koblenz. In this
area the situation as seenon the map is completely confused. An
attempt is being made to form a new defensive line west of the
Moselle but it is very questionable whether it will succeed.
I commissioned Dr Naumann to go to the Führer and put to him
the question of evacuation from BerUn of the top-level agencies of

the Reich and the Wehrmacht. The Führer is of the opinion that at
least preparations should be made. I should be glad to see these
high-level organisations cleared out of Berlin as soon as possible,
since they are no reinforcement to the fighting morale of the capital.
They should therefore - and here the Führer is entirely right - be
weeded out gradually without causing sensation among the pubhc.
Naumarm returned much impressed by his interview with the
Führer. The Führer was in his best and most resolute form. Though
the situation is extraordinarily serious and menacing, he still re-
presents a firm fixed point round which events revolve. As long as
he is at the head of the Reich we have no need to haul down our flag.
THURSDAY 8 MARCH 1945
(pp 1-39)
Military Situation.
In our offensive across the Drava two bridgeheads were formed
despite stiff enemy resistance. Between the Drava and Lake Balaton
our offensive continued despite violent enemy counter-attacks.
Considerable gains of ground were made in our offensive between
Lake Balaton and the Danube south-east and south of Stuhlweis-
senburg. Two Hungarian towns were recaptured. At the previous
scenes of fierce fighting in central Slovakia all enemy attacks failed
apart from a few local penetrations. On the whole front as far as
Lauban only local actions took place. Fighting continues in the
southern sector of the fortress of Breslau. Our own offensive at
Lauban is now concluded. The Soviet 3 Guards Tank Army was so
mauled that it cannot be in action in the foreseeable future. No
change in the situation on the Oder front as far as Küstrin. Küstrin
itself was again heavily but unsuccessfully attacked from south-east
and north-west.
In Pomerania heavy tank attacks on our position south of Stettin
failed but north of Stargard the Soviets succeeded in pushing for-
ward as far as Altdamm. There is therefore danger of the Stettin
bridgehead being split The enemy captured GoUnow after
open.
heavy fighting. He managed to reduce the WoUin bridgehead.
also
Attacks on the southern edge of Kolberg were defeated. The Soviets
also succeeded in extending their break-through north-eastwards
capturing Schlawe and Zitzewitz. Soviet attacks from the
Heiderode area also gained ground. Attacks on the eastern defensive
ring of Danzig were held at Neukrug. Between Marienburg and
Elbing the Soviets attacked in great strength using fresh forces
brought up from East Prussia and made a deep penetration reaching
the Marienburg-Tiegenhof road.
In the East Prussia area fighting was light.
In Courland fourteen Soviet divisions attacking south-east of
8 MARCH 1945 75
Frauenburg achieved some initial success but were brought to a halt

by evening as a result of successful counter-attacks.
On the Western Front a complete defensive victory was scored in
the Wesel bridgehead; on the other hand the enemy succeeded in
pushing our forces back in Köln and either side of Brühl. East of
Euskirchen strong enemy armoured forces advanced into the Ahr
valley and reached Neuenahr. North of Kochem the enemy gained
ground towards Koblenz. His efforts to extend his penetration
southwards failed. Fierce fighting continues between Kyllberg and
Ehrang and also north-east of Trier as the enemy attacks eastwards.
Fluctuating fighting is taking place along the Ruwer. Other oper-
ations on the Western Front were of local significance only.
In the main areas of fighting on the Eastern Front' enemy air
activity was very heavy. Our own close support aircraft were in
action mainly in Pomerania. Nine Soviet aircraft were shot down in
air battles.
West air activity was small owing to unfavourable weather.
In the
Over Reich territory American bombers made daylight attacks
on transport and industrial targets in Westphalia and central Ger-
many. During the night a strong British formation, preceded by
harassing aircraft raided primarily Hamburg, Hemmingstedt,
Dessau and Leipzig. The capital was raided twice by high-speed
aircraft. Night fighters shot down 41 enemy aircraft confirmed and
two probables — all bombers. Anti-aircraft results are not yet to
hand.
Our Western enemies state on the one hand that our troops are
offering heroically tough resistance and that the Anglo-American
victory will be a blood-soaked one; on the other hand they say that
the population is giving them a sincere welcome and that the
hoisting of white flags on houses is now a regular occurrence. I
beheve these reports to be partly right and partly wrong. In any case
it is clear that in no case have our troops surrendered in any large
numbers and that they are resisting at all costs - to the extent that the
situation and their equipment permit. People are quite clear about
this on the enemy side too. Nevertheless an early end to the war is
anticipated. The Exchange Telegraph, for instance, reports that
official British circles are convinced that the war will end shortly,
that httle account need be taken of the final battles in Germany and
that the war can be brought to an end simply by proclamation by
the King of England. Little stock is taken of clandestine resistance
76 8 MARCH 1945
which the British maintain we are planning. It is thought that the

German people are so worn out that they are no longer capable of it.
In the Hght of the cUmate of opinion at home Churchill has clearly
been compelled to forecast the date of termination of hostihties
more precisely. He now talks of the war lasting another two
months. He has no intention, he says, of recognising any German
government. The German people will be governed exclusively by
the occupation authorities. That is what the future world looks Hke
in the mind of a British plutocrat! Are they incapable of reahsing in
London that a people of 80 million souls will never accept such
a solution and that Europe would prefer to go down in chaos,
flame and smoke rather than submit to such a prescription for
disintegration.
1 his evening the alarming news comes from Eisenhower's head-
quarters that the- Americans have succeeded in forming a small
bridgehead on the right bank of the Rhine. I cannot confirm the
accuracy of this information since communications to the west are
not working. I regard it as more or less out of the question however.
Street fighting is going on in Bonn and Godesberg. The damage
which they found in Köln has made the deepest impression on the
British and Americans. For the first time they are now seeing the
devastating effect of their prolonged air bombardment and I fear
that they will merely be encouraged thereby to continue with this
barbarous method of warfare, indeed to intensify it considerably.
As far as our people's attitude to the enemy is concerned,
accounts differ considerably. On the one hand it is said that there is
absolutely nothing to be done with these people since at heart they
are still nazified, on the other hand many statements have been
made to the effect that their attitude when they encounter the
enemy is a submissive one. One cannot clear this question up at the
moment. One must wait for the initial confusion of miUtary oper-
ations to be over and see what happens when things have settled
down. Then the enemy will learn how National-Sociahst Germany
reacts to his brutalities.
Our sole great hope at present Hes in the U-boat war. Our
Western enemies are very worried about it. They had not expected a
resumption of activity by our U-boats at this of all times. Moreover
they are particularly taken aback because, with the extension of the
Pacific war, the British and American tonnage situation is so
stretched that they have not a ship to spare. It is therefore under-
standable that repeated declarations are being made, primarily from
Washington, that the USA is now more interested than ever in
ending the war in Europe as quickly as possible. We, however, are
8 MARCH 1945 77
more interested than ever in prolonging it as much as possible and

putting agood fat spoke in the wheel of the American War Minister,
who made the statement referred to above.
A series of false reports given worldwide publicity primarily by
London shows that the enemy now proposes to bring into action his
big psychological warfare guns. There is talk of serious unrest in
Munich, of a staged anti-government revolt which allegedly took
place in the Babelsburg film studios and which gave me a par-
ticularly thankless role to play. A
spurious speech by the Führer to
Gauleiters on 24 February is being peddled round. It is such desp-
icable nonsense as not even to be worth repeating. The Berlin
population is being summoned
to capitulate before the Soviet
assault begins. In short all hell loose and the enemy is sowing a
is
minefield in order to shake the German people's imperturbability at

this extraordinarily critical time. I do not think it necessary, how-
ever, to react to all this in our domestic propaganda. Every German
knows today precisely what he has to do and he is quite clear what
hangs over him should the enemy achieve his purpose. For the
benefit of enemy countries I shall issue a short categorical dementi of
these fake reports.
In all this confusion it is pleasing to note that the political crisis on
the enemy side continues to grow. It is still raging round the Yalta
communique. The American papers are now being more out-
spoken.They accuse the so-called "Big Three" of trying to turn
back the clock of history and say that in this case, as always, their
mistakes will come home to roost with a vengeance.
The Japanese too are now slowly beginning to reaHse the seri-
ousness of the situation. Tokyo newspapers write of the possibiUty
of an American landing on the Japanese mainland' and are saying
that the Japanese nation would rise against them as one man. It is
good that the Japanese are now being dragged somewhat more into
the firing Une; it will probably lead them to make greater efforts
against the enemy than they have done so far.
In Rumania the Legionaries* have been hard at work recently
creating difficulties for the Soviets. On our side we are in the
process of organising a large-scale partisan organisation in
German-occupied eastern territories. It will be a considerable time
before such a partisan organisation can actually start activities, but
nevertheless it should do us some good.
In Moscow they are now threatening us with a pincer movement
on BerHn. I fear that this is in fact their intention now that the
* i.e. the Iron Guard. See above p. 24.

78 8 MARCH 1945
Soviets have secured their extended flank by their advance in

Pomerania. Preparations in the sector of the Oder front facing
BerHn, however, do not lead to the conclusion that at the moment
they are planning a miHtary operation directed on the Reich capital.
I do not think that their forces are adequate to do this at the present
time. They would have to use at least two fresh armies for an
advance on a city Uke BerUn and at present they are not available.
Renduhct has now put things in order in East Prussia. From one
of his reports I see that, when he took over the Army Group, there
were no fewer than 16,000 stragglers. He has quickly reduced this
figure to 400 using fairly brutal methods. In this respect he is acting
just hke Schömer and Model. It seems that Renduhc's ambition is to
earn a place in the ranks of our leading modem army commanders.
The Duce has made an extraordinarily firm and self-assured
speech. Its central theme is that Germany cannot be beaten. If only
the Itahan people thought, or rather had thought, the same way as
the Duce, the war would have taken a very diflferent course. But the
Italian people is not worthy of the Duce; it is not worth a row of
beans.
During the last 24 hours the air war has again raged over Reich
territory with devastating effect. It was the turn of Magdeburg and
even more of Dessau. The greater part of Dessau is a sheet of flame
and totally destroyed; yet another German city which has been
largely flattened. In addition reports coming in from towns recently
Chemnitz in particular, make one's hair grow grey. Yet
attacked,
once more it is frightful that v/e have no defence worth mentioning
with which to oppose the enemy air war.
The Party Chancellery is now planning a special operation to
raise the troops' morale. Each Gau is to make available five selected
pohtical leaders of officer rank in an attempt to revive the sinking
morale of the troops. Evidence of demoralisation is now to be seen
primarily in the West, proving that the objection to my recent
proposal to denounce the Geneva Convention was quite wrong -
that the morale of our troops in the West was holding simply
because the soldier felt that he was facing a fair foe. Desertions have
reached a considerable level. The population, primarily in the West,
is to some degree helping deserters. What else is to be expected of
them when they receive the enemy with white flags? In the Neuss
bridgehead, for instance, considerable numbers of men slipped
away from the battlefield during the course of a single night. This is
* Col-Gen Lothar Rendulic - a general trusted by Hitler - had been sent out to
command the Army Group "Courland" and shore up the crumbling German
position in East Prussia.
8 MARCH 1945 79
another proof that in our whole war strategy we have overcalled

our hand and the results are now descending on the heads of the
people. Again and again one hears that the enemy air bombardment
is at the bottom of it all. It is understandable that a people which has
been subjected for years to the fire-effect of a weapon against which

it has no defence, should gradually lose its courage.
A flaming row has arisen over Dr Ley's* recent article; in it he

said that the air war had made us so poor that people almost took
comfort from it and that the recent raids on Dresden had been
greeted with a definite sigh of rehef by the German people. It is
always quite easy to see what Dr Ley means by his articles, but
unfortunately he expresses himself in such a tactically inept way
that they arouse the greatest repugnance among the public. He is
not the sort of man we want writing in the press.
At midday I drive out to visit Görütz. The weather is clear and
frosty; the whole countryside is bathed in wonderful sunshine. On
leaving the ruins of Berlin one enters a region apparently quite
untouched by the war. One feels really happy to see open country
and breathe fresh air again. Everywhere, not only in Berlin but also
along the road, barricades against the advance of Soviet tanks are
being buut. In this flat country people's lives are comparatively
undisturbed. They are to be envied. We drive past Dresden and
through Bautzen. Bautzen is totally undamaged and the sight of it is
refreshing. Immediately afterwards, however, we enter the oper-
ations zone. We drive close behind the front for some way.
Occasionally one can see enemy or German gun-flashes in the
distance. We have to stop for a short time just outside Görlitz. A
group of women come up to the car and give me a rapturous
welcome. It is clear that there is still a great store of confidence in us
at the grassroots and that our position of authority is still intact. We
must make use of the fact In other words, if National-SociaUsm
could once more present itself to the people as a pure ideology, freed
from all manifestations of corruption and time-serving, it could still
today turn out to be the great victorious ideology of our century.
We reach Görütz about 2.0 p.m. The town presents a remarkable
sight. There are hardly any women about; they and their children
have been evacuated long since. GörUtz has become a town of men
only.
Kreisleiter Mahler, formerly a district leader in BerUn, receives
me in Görhtz. He has put the town into a splendid state of defence
and is firmly determined to hold it under all circumstances
• Dr Robert Ley wis Leader of the Nazi "German Workers' Front". His loyalty to
the cause was fanatical but (since he was seldom sober) indistinctly expressed.
80 8 MARCH 1945
alongside the Wehrmacht. Colonel-General Schörner has come

from his headquarters specially to be present during my visit to
GörÜtz. He presents his officers to me and they make a first-class
impression. Schörner has obviously done an excellent job in train-
ing them. In any case there is not the smallest sign of defeatism here.
I then drive with Schörner to Lauban, which had only been
cleared of the enemy by our troops that morning. On the way
Schörner briefs me on the situation of his Army Group. He
launched his offensive in the Lauban area in order to keep the enemy
on the move and in this he has succeeded. During his offensive he
destroyed the greater part of an enemy tank Corps without our
troops suffering very great casualties. He is of the opinion that, if
one hits the Bolshevists hard, they can be beaten under all cir-
cumstances. His infantry is wretched; he is basing his strategy
exclusively on his material superiority, particularly in tanks. As far
as Breslau is concerned, Schörner beUeves that he can Hberate the
city in a few weeks' time. He had intended to do so as a result of his
Lauban offensive but unfortunately he had to release his assault
divisions to bolster our defence in Pomerania and so could not
continue the Lauban offensive. Schörneris very worried about the
situation in theMährisch-Ostrau area. He expects the next major

Soviet offensive to come here and so must now take precautions
against it. He
has therefore arranged a fresh attack in the Ratibor
area; it dawn this morning and he is hopeful of some
started at
result. In general his principle is to harass the enemy, create difficul-
ties for him and force him to make moves which will gradually lead
to the disintegration of his front.
Schörner is decidedly a personaUty as a commander. The details
he gave me about the methods he uses to raise morale were first-rate
and demonstrate not only his talents as a commander in the field but
also his superb poUtical insight. He is using quite novel modern
methods. He is no chairborne or map general; most of the day he
spends with the fighting troops, with whom he is on terms of
confidence, though he is very strict. In particular he has taken a grip
of the so-called "professional stragglers", by which he means men
who continually manage to absent themselves in critical situations
and vanish to the rear on some pretext or other. His procedure with
such types is fairly brutal; he hangs them on the nearest tree with a
placard announcing: "I am a deserter and have declined to defend
German women and children." The deterrent effect on other deser-
ters and men who might have it in mind to follow them is obviously
considerable.
In all this work Todenhöfer, a member of my staff, is being a
8 MARCH 1945 81
great help to Schörner who thinks

a great deal of him. Todenhöfer
had also made was overjoyed to see me again.
the journey and
Schörner tells me that Todenhöfer is doing him great service in
giving the right poHtical slant to all his proclamations and orders.
Meanwhile we arrive in Lauban. The town has been fairly badly
damaged in the fighting of previous days. Naturally a single
Anglo-American air raid is more devastating than a whole day's
artillery duel. Nevertheless to see so badly damaged a town in
Silesia, which is otherwise pretty well untouched by the war, is
somewhat horrifying.
Paratroops, who had made a great name for themselves in the
Lauban operation, were on parade in the totally ruined market-
place of Lauban. Schörner addressed the troops and his speech
included the most compUmentary remarks about me and my work.
In particular he eulogised my permanent and indefatigable struggle
for total war and wished good fortune to my efforts. He said that I
was one of the few men who had the ear of the front-hne troops to
the rephed with a very strong appeal to the morale of the
full. I
now have to
troops, referring particularly to the historic duty they
perform. A bit of local colour provided an excellent background. In
this area there is hardly a town or a village in which Frederick the
Great did not win one of his victories or suffer one of his defeats.
As the soldiers marched past I noticed a Ueutenant who proved to
be Haegert, one of my old associates who had volunteered to return
to the front with the "Grossdeutschland" Division. He was deeply
moved to see me again. On the flank of the troops as they marched
past was a member of the Hitler Youth aged only 16 who had just
won the Iron Cross.
Both the market-place at Lauban and the roads into and out of the
town were Uttered with burnt-out enemy tanks. Our anti-tank guns
had really done a good job here. Privately one is seized with horror
at the sight of these monstrous, robot-hke steel colossi with which
Stalin wants to subjugate Europe.
Schörner then has to return to his headquarters to direct his new
operation at Ratibor. Our leave-taking was extraordinarily
friendly. I have really taken Schörner to my heart.
We then drive along immediately behind the front. From a
look-out post I can see the Soviet concentration. This was the area in
which the battle of Lauban took place. My conducting officers brief
me about the enemy's morale. It is not particularly briUiant. They
repeatedly assert that, if he is hit hard, he is bound to take to his heels
soon. He must be faced with a certain weight of material however.
His losses during the Lauban battle were enormous. Having seen
82 8 MARCH 1945
the atrocities committed by the Soviets, our men are giving no

quarter. They beat Soviet soldiers to death with shovels and rifle
butts. The atrocities committed by the Soviets are indescribable.
Frightful evidence of them is visible everywhere along the road.
We then pay a short visit to an artillery position and a rolling
salvo is fired in my honour. Officers and men are of the best type. It
is refreshing to talk to them. It must not be forgotten, however, that
they belong to an elite formation, the "Grossdeutschland" Corps

which has always been very selective as regards its personnel. My
visit to the front-linetroops gives the greatest pleasure. From the
men's faces one can see how pleased and happy they are to see me so
far forward. The enemy is giving us a Uttle momentary peace. He
seems to be licking the wounds he suffered during the Lauban
battle. He welcomes us merely with an occasional artillery salvo.
We then drive back to Görlitz. In the hotel, where the impression
is one of complete peacetime, I have endless discussions with poUt-
ical leaders and officers, all of whom naturally want to know more
about the war. This does not imply that they are in any way
depressed. On the contrary the fighting spirit here is like that of the
good old days. General Graeser, who has lost a leg during the war, is
admittedly rather one of the old school but his attitude is splendid.
The young General Mäder, commanding the "Führer" Grenadier
Division which played a major part in the Lauban battle, is out-
standing. He has his general's tabs at the age of 3 5. The mood of this
circle is truly infectious. No trace of defeatism. I notice this too
when I address soldiers and men of the Volkssturm in the over-
flowing Town Hall. Here is an audience entirely receptive to my
views. My speech is entirely concentrated on fighting and tenacity. I
give these men the watchwords for the present situation, rein-
forcing them with a series of historical examples which carry much
conviction, particularly in this area. One can imagine the effect of
such a speech in an assembly such as this. I feel totally happy and
relaxed and am glad that for once I have managed to escape from the
atmosphere of Berlin at last.
A
full-course dinner is then served in the hotel. The food situation
in Görlitz is as good as it can be since large stocks of meat and fat
have been evacuated from the Soviet-occupied areas and must now
under all circumstances be eaten. Once again I observe that firm
faith in victoryand in the Führer is prevalent among these men. The
behaviour towards me personally of the officers from this oper-
ational zone is fabulous. Clearly my work over all these years has
given them the greatest confidence. I sit with them until late into the
evening. These are fine moments which really do one good.
8 MARCH 1945 83
Then we drive back to Berlin. For 25 miles we have to drive

straight behind the Soviet front. One can see Very lights going up at
the front and the occasional flash of an artillery salvo. It is naturally
difficult to find the right road since the front here is very twisty and
makes the most improbable twists and turns. However eventually
we succeed in finding our way out of the maze and reaching the
autobahn at Cottbus. Then we go at full speed back to Berlin. I am
glad to be back in my beloved old Reich capital. At home I find a
mountain of work. Magda has again got one of her headaches and is
in great pain. We could do without that at the moment. I am
dog-tired but only manage a few hours' sleep.
FRIDAY 9 MARCH 1945
(pp. 1-30)
Military Situation.
Our offensive made progress everywhere in the Hungarian area. Its
success on the Malom Canal and south-west of Stuhlweissenburg is

particularly noteworthy.
In southern Slovakia enemy pressure either side of Schemnitz
was as severe as ever. The enemy made one or two penetrations but
was then held deep in the battle zone. At Altsohl and Nikolas his
attacks were driven off. In the area north of Ratibor German for-
mations made a surprise attack from the west and north-west in a
south-easterly direction, fell upon the enemy as he was moving up
and spread considerable confusion in the Soviet concentration areas.
One or two blocks of houses were recaptured by counter-attacks in
the southern quarter of Breslau. The Lauban operation has mean-
while been concluded and German troops are going on the defen-
sive again. An enemy army was severely mauled here and the vital
Görlitz-Greifenberg-Hirschberg railway line reopened. At Guben
the enemy, who had penetrated into the eastern quarter of the town,
was ejected again. In the Lebus bridgehead too the Soviets attacked
in strength but were thrown back by a counter-attack and our
positions were improved. Very heavy enemy attacks were made on
Küstrin from south, south-west and north. The attacks from south
and south-west were driven off but from the north the Bolshevists
succeeded in penetrating into the town and capturing a row of
houses.
In Pomerania the situation has become more acute, our bridge-
head round Stettin having been driven in further. The new line now
runs north of Pölitz to Altdamm, which we still hold, and thence to
Greifenhagen. The enemy made very heavy attacks at Altdamm
and Greifenberg but was either held or driven back. An attempt by
the Bolshevists to land on the island of Wollin failed. Moving from
Treptow the enemy succeeded in reaching the coast at Bad Horst. In
9 MARCH 1945 85
Kolberg the situation is unchanged. A strong German formation is

still in the Greifenberg area. tried to fight its way through
It first
westwards but through and has now turned north-

failed to get
west. On the eastern flank of the break-through area around Stolp
and Bütow no change in the situation. On the other hand the
Soviets did succeed in advancing north from Heiderode and reach-
ing the outer ring of the Danzig fortifications. Leading elements
were held at Zuckau. Between Marienburg and Elbing the Soviet
advance was halted by a counter-attack.
In East Prussia the enemy is regrouping so that resumption of
offensive activity must be expected in the very near future.
In the West the enemy renewed his attack in strength on either
side of Xanten and south of it. In some places his attacks were
repulsed, in others he succeeded in penetrating deeper into the
bridgehead. The fighting here is extremely severe. In the southern
sector of the Köln bridgehead the enemy penetrated as far as the
Köln—Bonn railway. Violent street fighting is going on in Bonn and
also in Bad Godesberg. Some enemy armour from the Ahrweiler
area reached the east bank of the Rhine across the Remagen bridge.
The enemy force consists of an armoured detachment and three
infantry battaHons. The enemy advance was sealed off and held at
Linz. Counter-measures were initiated at once. The bridge was
attacked by dive-bombers during the night and damaged; it is
possible, however, that it can still be used. South of Remagen the
enemy pushed forward to the west bank of the Rhine in the direc-
tion of Niederbreisig. In the Eifel break-through area the leading
enemy armour reached a point 4 km west of Koblenz. Strong
attacks against our switch hnes north and south of the break-
through area were beaten off. A feature, however, is an enemy
armoured thrust southwards from Euskirchen; the purpose of this
is clearly to cause the coUapse of the German front stiU holding out
and so our formations in the Kyll sector have had to fight their way
back to a new position 4—5 km farther east. The enemy followed up
closely but were beaten off on the new Une. Equally our forces in the
Hillesheim area have escaped encirclement by withdrawing to the
Nürburgring and the area to the west. In their new positions all
enemy attacks were repulsed. On the Trier battlefield the enemy
attempted to extend his penetration eastwards to the Moselle. He
crossed the Ruwer towards Kent but was then held. South of Trier
some American forces are still encircled and fighting continues.
No operations of significance took place on the rest of the
western front.
No special reports available from the ItaUan front.
86 9 MARCH 1945
Enemy aircraft were very active in the East yesterday. They

attacked primarily locahties near the front and our supply Hnes.
1400 sorties were noted in the central sector alone. Our own air
activity was also very considerable. 365 German close support
aircraftwere in action in the central sector. A total of 26 enemy
aircraftwere shot down.
On the Western Front enemy air activity was small owing to
unfavourable weather
Over Reich territory three American bomber formations raided
Siegen, Frankfurt am Main, Bad Homburg, Giessen, Dortmund,
Recklinghausen, Essen, Bochum and Wuppertal. A strong Ameri-
can formation from the south raided Marburg and Kapfenberg.
None of our own fighters in action. No reports yet of aircraft shot
down by our anti-aircraft. Some 300 British bombers attacked
Kassel around 9.0 p.m. A formation of some 200 Mosquitos carried
out an attack on Hamburg. 60 Mosquitos diverted to BerUn and
another 20 to Osnabrück. A few bombs were dropped on Bremen.
The British press reports that Churchill took mahcious pleasure in

what he saw during a visit to Aachen. He expressed himself a«-
extraordinarily satisfied with the extent of damage wrought by the
air terror. This is completely in character. He is a top-class gangster.
We shall not be the only people, however, to bemoan what he has
done; rather it will be the British people who have placed them-
selves in his hands at this fateful moment in their pohtical develop-
ment. The British now state flatly in their press that five miUion
Germans will probably have to starve after the war since they have
no intention of providing food for them. This entirely accords with
their mentaUty. But we shall not be misled. The British have
become totally obsessed by their hate complex and in the end they
themselves wül be its victims. The fact that they now openly admit
that terror is the purpose of their air war is particularly charac-
teristic. They no longer take any account of worldwide pubHc
opinion. I believe, however, that this will be to our advantage in the
long run, for world public opinion is not yet so brutaHsed as to
accept such a cynical attitude without comment.
To read Anglo-American reports on the damage in Köln one
would almost think that we had been responsible for turning this
lovely Hanseatic city into a heap of ruins. The Americans in par-
ticular accuse us of being responsible for the damage by prolonging
the war. This is a world of contradiction, mendacity and hypocrisy
inconceivable even in one's wildest dreams. Yet I suppose that from
9 MARCH 1945 87
these fearful misconceptions and misunderstandings a better and

more beautiful world will arise.
London is now giving vent to exaggerated optimism about the
prospects of peace. From the latest government statement one
would think that the war could end any day. Of course the enemy is
in a great hurry since the British in particular are slowly reahsing
that the longer the war lasts the more they are forced to take a back
seat vis-a-vis their powerful allies, especially the Soviet Union. The
situation is not of the best on our side of course. Particularly in the
West a fairly severe dent has now been made in our fighting morale,
which is slowly beginning to sink. Naturally the indications must
not be overestimated. When military operations are so bloody it has
always been the case that some of our soldiers and some of the
civilianpopulation lose their nerve. It is a great exaggeration, how-
ever, when it is said that people are trying to stop the soldiers
shooting. Some madman may have done something of the sort
from time to time but it is far from being the rule. The end-the-war
psychosis which had manifested itself here and there is worldwide.
The popular masses everywhere would rather end the war today
than tomorrow. The only question is how it is to be done.
Developments in the West naturally give rise to the greatest
anxiety from the mihtary point of view. They have led the Führer to
summon Kesselring to Berlin. After talking to him the Führer will
possibly put him in Rundstedt's place.* Rundstedt has become too
old and works too much on First World War ideas to master a
situation such as is now developing in the West. It is quite devas-
tating that the Americans should have succeeded in capturing the
Rhine bridge at Remagen intact and forming a bridgehead on the
right bank of the Rhine. Large-scale counter-measures are now
being initiated since everyone is naturally clear on the threat which a
bridgehead on the right bank poses for us. During the night Ju 88s
were in action and partially destroyed the bridge, but it is not yet
known whether this has made it unserviceable. On the enemy side
of course people are overjoyed at the news. They act as if they
already held the whole right bank of the Rhine. In fact it is a raving
scandal that the Remagen bridge was not blown in good time. The
Americans were able to capture it without a fight.
The Soviet press evinces no interest in the war in the West. It is
dismissed in a couple of anodyne Hnes; instead the greater part of
their pubUcity is devoted to events in Rumania which are of greater
importance to them. The Anglo-Americans are forced to accept
• Le. as C-in-C West.

9 MARCH 1945
literally shocking treatment from Moscow. But they have no

strong-arm methods available with which to counter it. All they can
do is to voice occasional and increasing press criticism of Soviet
high-handedness.
The results of Yalta are still being violently attacked - both by the
American and the British pubUcs. Criticism is concentrated on the
solution to the Polish problem but of course people really mean the
handling of the German problem, for there comes the real rub. This
criticism is very moderate, however; with the Anglo-Americans
fear of Moscow overshadows all other motives.
In the region which was formerly Poland the Soviets are pursuing
their bloody reign of terror undeterred by Anglo-American pro-
tests. They take not the smallest notice of Churchill and Roosevelt.
A new wave of arrests is sweeping across the country, the victims
being mainly the Pohsh nationaUsts.
In Rumania things are going according to plan, in other words
according to the Kremhn's wishes. A spicy bit of news is that
Radescu, the former Rumanian Minister-President, has taken
refuge in the British Embassy, a fact which Moscow pretends to
fmd most astonishing.
In a recent speech Koiso, the Japanese Minister-President, set out
the seriousness of the situation now quite definitely faced by the
Japanese. He pleaded for mobihsation of all Japanese forces for war
purposes. Japan is now going through a phase similar to ours two
years ago. I hope that she will draw different conclusions from it
than we did at that time. The German example should have pro-
vided an adequate lesson of the results of initiating war measures
too late.
The Soviets are complaining loudly of increasing sabotage activ-
ity behind their front. They have definitely not got total control of
their rear areas, particularly seeing that they have only been able to
station a few troops there. They are putting everything in the shop
window in preparation for their next offensive against us.
The political repercussions of military victory are now becoming
noticeable among the neutrals. The Swedes are indulging in lavish
expressions of friendship for the Soviet Union. If the Swedish
tycoons think that this is the way to gain the sympathy of the
Kremlin, they will fmd that they are making a fatal error. Nothing
that is not definitely bolshevist influences the Kremlin. Bolshevism
usually answers any approaches with a kick in the stomach.
Terboven* is once more having a serious row with the Swedish
• Reich Commissioner for Occupied Norway.

9 MARCH 1945 89
government on the subject of frontier traffic. The Swedes are

continually trying to pick a quarrel with us about Norway in order
to curry favour with the British and Americans. Terboven has
submitted a memorandum to the Führer about the system of com-
mand in Norway in emergency. He proposes that he should
become deputy Commander-in-Chief to Böhme* to ensure that
poUtical affairs would be handled correctly in emergency. I do not
think that the Führer can accept this proposal.
It is quite grotesque that the Norwegians should now be hoping
that they will be Uberated from the German yoke by the Soviets.
Their jaws would drop if it actually happened.
The Czechs are now becoming somewhat refractory. This is
noticeable in an increase of sabotage activity. The reason is that no

one among the Czech people beUeves in a German victory any more
and the opposition elements are trying to provide themselves with
an alibi for the future.
now being taken in Hungary to set up a labour service
Measures
on the German model come plenty late. Little help can now be given
the Hungarians. They have missed their moment and can now only
be regarded by the major belligerents as pawns in their game.
At midday I receive a large delegation of foreign workers with
occupations in the Reich; in their addresses they express their readi-
ness to collaborate. I reply with a very emphatic speech in which I
outline our future programme for Europe based on a socialist
reorganisation of the continent. I expect this speech to have some
effect if it is published in the foreign workers' newspapers. The
majority of these foreign workers have been attracted here by
conditions in the Reich. If they go back home after the war they will
undoubtedly be our best propagandists.
The series of heavy air raids on our major cities continues. This
time it was the turn of Kassel, Hamburg and Bad Homburg.
Pure terrorism is the only reason for the Americans to attack Bad
Homburg. Reports coming in about the state of Dessau are truly
horrifying. The city has been largely destroyed.
Letters I am now receiving show that German fighting morale
has reached its nadir. My correspondents bemoan the defeatist
attitude to be seen on large sections of the front and also the
considerable breakdown in morale among the civil population.
Even the optimists are now beginning to waver, a sign that we have
now reached the zenith of the crisis. Almost all letters describe
Goring as the nigger in the woodpile responsible for the German
* Commander-in-Chief of German forces in Norway.

90 9 MARCH 1945
set-backs on all fronts. For many of the letter-writers the fact that he
is still in office is a sign that we are now in the midst of a latent crisis
of state.
In the event of emergency OKW and OKH propose to evacuate
some 50,000 men from Berlin. Such is the size of our military
command organisation! No wonder nothing worth mentioning in
the way of useful output emerges from it.
The formation of a manpower cushion behind the Eastern and
Western Fronts has now entered a new phase. Jüttner has opposed
my plan energetically and partially torpedoed it. Only the replace-
ment units from four Wehrkreis [Military districts] are now to be
moved to the rear operational areas. Overall this means about
40,000 men which is of course too few for the purpose envisaged;
nevertheless it is better than nothing and I shall continue to batter on
in the direction I want in order to achieve my purpose in the end.
Colonel-General Fromm has been sentenced to death for cow-
ardice in face of the enemy. He thoroughly deserves this sentence.
Admittedly it could not be proved that he was actually involved in
20 July; but he did not take the measures which were his duty in
order to prevent 20 July.
I have a long talk with Marrenbach* about Dr Ley's leading
articles. He has recently indulged in a number of folhes entitled

"Without baggage" which are simply intolerable. For instance he
writes that the destruction of Dresden has been greeted with a sigh
of relief by the German people since we have now lost our last city
of culture. Of course the air war cannot be treated in this way. The
ultimate conclusion to his line of argument is that we had best
abandon the entire Reich to the enemy since we should then have no
baggage at all to drag around with us.
The evening report from the West unhappily says that it has still
not been possible to eHminate the Remagen bridgehead. Impro-
vised counter-measures have been taken but they have not been
successful. In the area north of Koblenz isolated groups are still
fighting their way back to the Rhine.
The interview between the Führer and Kesselring went well.
Probably Kesselring will now take over the Western Front in place
of Rundstedt.
Good news comes from Hungary. The Sixth SS Panzer Army has
succeeded in penetrating deeply into the enemy defence positions.
An effort is now being made to reach the enemy rear areas so as to
annihilate his forces and it is thought that a considerable portion of
* Ley's adjutant. See above p. 79.

9 MARCH 1945 91
his front must collapse as a result. The Soviets are naturally resisting
tooth and nail; it is to be hoped, however, that Sepp Dietrich will
succeed in implementing the Fiihrer's plan. Operations at Ratibor
have in general gone well, though they are only of a local nature. We
have reached Steinau where the Soviet garrison is surrounded. The
enemy has penetrated into the northern part of Küstrin. The
Altdamm bridgehead was again very heavily attacked; the enemy
succeeded in penetrating deeply and further compressing the
bridgehead. The situation in West Prussia is definitely bad. The
enemy advanced towards Zoppot. Forster's* position in Danzig is
therefore highly precarious. The situation in East Prussia is
vmchanged. The general picture presented by the front is now a fluid
one but not solely to our disadvantage, thank God; in fact, to a
modest extent, it is to our advantage. It is to be hoped that this
favourable trend will have some effect. We need a military victory
now as much as our daily bread.
* Albert Forster was Gauleiter of Danzig.

SATURDAY lo MARCH 1945
(pp 1-27)
Military Situation.
In Hungary German offensive operations achieved further local
gains yesterday. Progress in the area between Lake Balaton and the
Danube is especially satisfactory; there our attack is moving for-
ward on a broad front along the Malom Canal.
In Slovakia all enemy attacks at Schemnitz, Altsohl, Briesen and
Nikolas failed. There was active enemy reconnaissance activity in
the Schwarzwasser area. North of Ratibor violent counter-attacks
against our penetration into the enemy bridgehead were defeated.
In the northern part of Breslau the enemy attacked in vain; bitter
fighting is going on in the southern part. Our local offensive is
making good progress at Striegau. At Guben also German troops
continued their attacks and improved their positions. North of
Forst a small Soviet bridgehead over the Neisse was driven in.
Continuing to attack in strength at Küstrin the enemy penetrated
farther into the town from north and east so that now we only hold
a bridgehead over the Oder in the south-western sector. In a local
attack our front advanced from the German bridgehead at Zehden.
The situation in the Stettin area has not changed much. Enemy
pressure is still very heavy, particularly just to the west of Stargard
where leading enemy troops were able to reach the autobahn.
Enemy attacks in the WoUin sector failed. The German formation
from the Greifenberg area has fought its way farther north-west and
is now moving on Dievenow, the Navy having reinforced it by sea.
Heavy attacks on Kolberg from all directions were repulsed but

with fairly heavy losses to the garrison. In the Stolp area the situ-
ation is unchanged. The new Hne now runs from Bütow to the
northern edge of Berent, from Zuckau turns south-east to just north
of Dirschau, crosses the Nogat valley, passes Neuteich and ends on
the sea at Tiegenhof. Attacks on our new front line were all driven
off. Half of Marienburg is still in our hands.
10 MARCH 1945 93
In East Prussia activity was small.

On
the Courland front attacks south-east of Frauenburg were
again very heavy. Apart from some minor penetrations, however,
all were repulsed.
On the Western Front very bitter fighting continued in the Wesel
bridgehead. Despite very heavy artulery preparation of a violence
hitherto almost unknown, the Canadians achieved only com-
paratively small penetrations to a depth of not more than i|km.
South of the bridgehead all enemy attacks were repulsed, some by
counter-attack, with heavy loss to the enemy. Farther south as far as
Köln no special operations took place. South of Köln the existing
German bridgehead was further reduced. Violent fighting is still
going on in Borm. The enemy bridgehead at Remagen has been
sealed off but has still not been eHminated however. The enemy
succeeded in expanding it somewhat both to north and south.
Southward pressure from the Ahrweiler area continues. In general
advancing enemy forces were held on the Hne Adenau-Nür-
burgring-Komoenich. All attacks yesterday again failed against the
whole front surrounding the break-through area on the south.
Attacks westward from WittUch were either held or defeated on a
new position 3 km farther to the rear. In the Trier area and south-
wards the situation is unchanged.
No special reports from the ItaUan front.
On the Eastern Front enemy air activity was particularly heavy in
East Prussia round Stettin and Küstrin and also in Courland. In the
central sector alone 2100 sorties were counted. Very heavy enemy
air raids were made on Königsberg and Breslau. Good results were
achieved by our own close support aircraft in Hungary and at the
main scenes of fighting in the central sector of the eastern front.
In the West air activity was reduced owing to unfavourable
weather but on the ItaUan front it was very heavy. Over Reich
territory strong American four-engined bomber formations with
fighter escort raided transport and industrial targets in west Ger-
many. Kassel, Frankfurt am Main, Münster, Osnabrück and Rheine
were particularly hard hit. There was heavy twin-engined bomber
activity directed mainly on the central Rhine region. From the south
some 500 American four-engined bombers with fighter escort
attacked Graz with a subsidiary attack on Klegenfurt. None of our
fighters were in action. Anti-aircraft reports six aircraft shot down
so far. In the evening the Reich capital was raided by 60-80 high-
speed aircraft.
Naval units carried out a commando raid on the French west
coast at Granville. Severe casualties were inflicted on the enemy;
94 10 MARCH 1945
German prisoners were liberated and brought back. Five ships of a

total of 4800 GRT and 14 lighters were sunk; five locomotives and
trucks, 10motor vehicles, one submarine shelter and a fuel depot
were destroyed. The lock gates were again destroyed. The steamer
Esquout was brought back under its own steam. The town of
Granville is in flames.
Churchill's and Roosevelt's report on the U-boat war is couched in

somewhat gloomier tones than last time. The two war criminals
naturally only refer to a moderate number of enemy ships as having
been sunk. Reading between the hnes of their statement, however,
possible to detect increasing anxiety on the enemy side caused
it is
by the resumption of activity by our U-boats; they are playing

havoc with the enemy's tonnage situation, which is strained any-
way.
Otherwise people in the USA and Britain are Hterally intoxicated
with victory. Above all, people think that because the Remagen
bridge has been captured the war will now end quickly. In London
it is stated, moreover, that the bridge fell into enemy hands as a
result of treachery. It had been prepared for demolition, they say,

but the officer responsible did not carry it out. I can quite imagine
that this may be true.
London also spread the rumour that the Führer proposed to
capitulate punctually at midnight Thursday /Friday. This premature
optimism has now dissolved into thin air. There is not the smallest
sign of surrender in Germany, though today we naturally have to
overcome difficulties of far more than normal size.
The morale of our troops and our people in the West has suffered
to an extraordinary degree. The Führer has accordingly despatched
General Hübner to the West and invested him with the widest
plenary powers. Nothing can be achieved in the West now except
by brutal methods, otherwise we shall lose control of the situation.
The Western Front is now in a similar state to that of the Eastern
Front seven to eight weeks ago. An iron hand is now the essential
here. The morale both of the civil population and the troops has
suffered primarily as a result of enemy air action. We hope, how-
ever, that the appearance of General Hübner will quickly put things
to rights again,
I am vexed most of all by the behaviour of the people in my home
town of Rheydt. The Americans have struck up a real triumphal
chorus about it. A certain Herr Vogelsang, known to me from the
10 MARCH 1945 95
early days as a downright National-Socialist philistine, has placed

himself at the disposal of the American occupation authorities as
Oberbürgermeister. In doing so he stated that he had only joined
the Party on compulsion from me and otherwise had had nothing to
do with it. I am going to draw a bead on this gentleman. I am
preparing an operation to liquidate him at the first favourable
opportunity. It will be carried out by Party members from Berlin
who have been trained for actions of this type. I discussed it in full
detail with Schach. * I do not want to rush the matter but to make
careful preparations to ensure that it succeeds whatever happens. I
believe that it will not fail to have its effect both on the enemy
occupation authorities and also on the population beyond the
Rhine.
Naturally, as was to be expected, the Americans have started a
so-called free German newspaper in Rheydt as one of the first towns
to be occupied. They are trying to humiliate me with it and point
out that the fact that such a newspaper should appear in Rheydt of
all places is one of the ironies of history. But the triumphal show
they are putting on seems to me somewhat premature. I shall find

ways and means to put things to rights again at least in Rheydt.
The American and British newspapers report on the attitude of
our prisoners West, which they describe as excellent. As
in the
correspondents report, our prisoners still maintain the view that
Germany must definitely win the war. To judge from the answers
given by a Berliner to an American correspondent's somewhat
impudent questions, I could not have done better myself All the
prisoners, so these reports state, have an almost mystical faith in
Hitler. This is the reason why we are still on our feet and fighting.
The Daily Mail is acting as spokesman for large-scale opposition
in England when it says that the vote of confidence obtained by
Churchill at the recent division in the Commons was a mere fraud.
In fact, the paper says, criticism of Churchill and his policy is a
widespread malady in England. It should not be thought that the
vote in the Commons was representative of the British people's real
views. This is precisely what we had suspected.
A series of other British newspapers are indulging in sharp cri-
ticism of the Kremlin's shirt-sleeve pohcy and diplomacy. As I have
already emphasised so often, however, these outbursts are still kept
within tolerable limits and should not be looked upon as promising
as far as our future war prospects are concerned.
Roosevelt is said to have declared himself in agreement with the
* One of Goebbels' officials as Gauleiter of Berlin. For further details of this
operation and its outcome, see below pp 105, 258.
96 10 MARCH 1945
deportation of millions of Germans to the Soviet Union. The Soviet

Union, it is proposed to demand 800-1000 milliard gold
said,
roubles as war reparations from Germany. This astronomical sum
should be worked off in labour. One knows that tale. The Soviets
are pursuing a systematic long-term policy, but they overstate their
demands to such an extent that they will eventually overcall their
hand.
There are more unemployed in France today than there were
before the war. Despite the fact that work is available in every
corner of France, therefore, the de Gaulle regime has not succeeded
in mastering this most elementary problem in a people's social hfe.
The Japanese report that they have taken over in French
Indochina. The French authorities created so many difficulties for
them that they have now taken measures to safeguard themselves
against openly planned treachery.
The Americans have made very heavy incendiary bomb raids on
Tokyo. They are talking very big about it but it does in fact seem
that very widespread fires broke out in Tokyo. The Japanese are
now beginning to see a side of the air war with which we have long
been familiar.
Reports from the Baltic States say that the Baltic peoples are now
filled with longing for the return of the Germans. But this yearning
comes late indeed; they might have given better expression to it by
active participation in the war against the Soviet Union in 1941, '42
and '43. Bourgeois countries invariably take their decisions too late
and bolshevism reaps the reward. Anti-Soviet partisan activity is
said to be extraordinarily widespread in the Baltic States. The
Soviet supply system is increasingly jeopardised thereby.
Under pressure from the Anglo-Americans Switzerland has now
banned transit traffic to us. Switzerland is a miserable sort of
country whose national sovereignty is comprised only in news-
paper articles.
The air war over Reich territory rages on. Reports sound almost
monotonous but they tell of so much sorrow and misery that one
hardly dares think about them in detail. The Führer has now decided
that the 1928 class shall be withdrawn from the Volkssturm.
This has imphcations for us in Berlin since we have 5000 Hitler
Youth members of the 1928 class manning our defence positions
and we now have to release them for fresh divisions which are to be
formed. These new divisions are our great hope for the future,
however, so that we cannot evade the problem.
It is significant that, during discussions on total war, the proposal
has been made that the entire Luftwaffe should be aboHshed and
10 MARCH 1945 97
such remnants of it as are in any way fit for war be transferred to the
other Services. This would be the most sensible solution since in its
present state the Luftwaffe is not worth a row of beans. It consists
merely of one enormous corruption factory.
For the furst time the facts and figures concerning the defences of
the Reich capital covering a week were submitted to me. Taken as a
whole the situation is extraordinarily satisfactory. According to the
figures submitted to me it may be assumed that with the men,
weapons, food and coal available BerHn could hold out for some
eight weeks if surrounded. Eight weeks is a long time during which
a lot can happen. In any case we have made excellent preparations
and above all it must be remembered that, if the worst should
happen, an enormous number of men with their weapons would
flow into the city and we should be in a position to use them to put
up a powerful defence.
In the evening comes the news that it has still not been possible to
ehminate the Remagen bridgehead. On the contrary the Americans
have reinforced it and are trying to extend it. The result is a very
unpleasant situation for us. I was told that C-in-C West was due to
take large-scale counter-measures this afternoon and tonight, but so
far we have invariably had to note that such counter-measures only
lead to success in the rarest instances. Here, however, we must
succeed, for if the Americans continue to hold out on the right bank
of the Rhine, they have a base for a further advance and from the
small beginning of a bridgehead such as we now see, a running sore
will develop — as so often before - the poison from which will soon
spread to the Reich's vitals.
Otherwise there have been no important changes in the West.
Our bridgehead at Xanten has been further reduced. In the East
operations in Hungary are developing favourably at the moment.
Our penetration was extended farther westwards. One can already
talk of a break-through here. We have torn the enemy front
real
apart to a breadth of 25km and also a depth of 25 km. The break-in
at Lake Balaton has also been widened so that here too we have
scored a considerable initial success. In Slovakia the battle swings
this way and that. The scope of the major Soviet offensive at
Schwarzwasser was not as great as we had originally feared. So far
Schörner has dealt with it. The severest street fighting is raging in
Breslau. The enemy has attempted to recapture Striegau but these
efforts have been defeated. At Frankfurt and Küstrin the Soviets
succeeded in making further very troublesome penetrations.
Nothing fresh in the Stettin area. The garrison of Kolberg has
beaten off all enemy attacks with severe losses. At Danzig the crisis
98 10 MARCH 1945
for our troops has become worse. Here is another sensitive spot in
the eastern situation.
For weeks now we have had a Mosquito raid on the Reich capital
every evening without exception. Recent raids were somewhat
heavier than usual. The enemy is apparently dropping larger HE
and incendiary bombs. Anyway the Mosquito raids can no more be
shrugged off than hitherto. They are not comparable, of course, to
the terror raids with which the cities of the west are being ham-
mered. Looking at the air war as a whole we in BerUn have by and
large been lucky, though large parts of the city are nothing but a
heap of ruins.
SUNDAY II MARCH 1945
(pp. 8-56, pp. 1-7 missing)

—
(Manuscript Note: pp. i 7: Military Situation.)
At the moment the Western Powers treat us simply with scorn and
derision. They feel themselves on top of the world and act as if they
had already won the war. They think that our morale has been badly
affected and allow us no prospects of victory whatsoever. To listen
to them the Volkssturm is nothing but a Home Guard of tired old
men. The people of the occupied regions, they say, have turned
their backs on National-Socialism and the National-Socialist lead-
ership; their attitude is so servile and submissive as to be actually
embarrassing. There is no question of an orderly German admin-
istration either in the occupied or non-occupied regions. That does
not matter, however, since the enemy has no intention of allowing
any government to take office in Germany. In short the Reich will
be dealt with like a Negro colony in Africa. In addition the British
and Americans are said to be planning to attack from the north-west
and Zhukov is considering a plan to break through in Pomerania
and join forces with the Anglo-Americans somewhere on the
north-west German plain.
This is roughly the picture of future war developments that is
being painted in London, though not quite so much in Washington.
There they are somewhat more reaUstic. It is easy to see what the
object of these British reports is. They want to instil a little courage
into their tired people and so they do the bragging while the Soviets
and the Americans win victories for them. The fact that BerUn has
not yet fallen into enemy hands is generously ascribed to the fact
that the Soviets have no intention of making a frontal attack on the
Reich capital. They are pursuing more important military objec-
tives. In short everything now being pubHshed on the enemy side is
aimed at our strength of nerve. If they think, however, that they will
frighten us as a result they are making a fatal error. Anyway it is
completely immaterial to us what the British think or say at the
100 II MARCH 1945
moment. Such panic stories have never paid off unless they have an
immediate success. And there is no question of that. I expect their
hangover mood to reassert itself in a few days' time.
Our Wesel bridgehead has now been evacuated under very
strong British-Canadian pressure. The Remagen bridgehead is still
there. Fighting at this point flows back and forth all the time. So far,
despite the greatest efforts, we have not succeeded in eUminating it
and it is very questionable whether we ever shall succeed.
The enemy side is continually raising the question whether the
Soviets will declare war on the Japanese. The KremHn must make
up its mind soon since the Soviet-Japanese non-aggression pact
must either be tacitly renewed or abrogated next month. On the
Western side people are quite sure that the Soviets intend to attack
the Japanese. But I do not think that, whatever happens, Stalin will
allow himself to be dragged into the Pacific adventure merely ô
please the British, still less the Americans.
The bolshevist menace is now clearly recognised in Britain as
well. The newspapers make no secret of it. But it is of no impor-
tance now what the British think or feel - simply what they are in a
position to do and that is nothing at all. The voices of protest in the
British press against bolshevist high-handedness in Europe are
merely the cries of distress from the heart of a blackmailed people
which no longer has a loophole. In fact these voices are not those
merely of outsiders; what the outsiders are saying today about the
danger of bolshevism is probably the view of the entire British
ruling class, which, however, cannot make any use of their opinion.
It is said that the Pope intends to take a hand in the PoHsh problem
and try to mediate. He will meet his match in StaHn. Stalin is firmly
determined - and one can understand this — to negotiate with no one
over the PoHsh question. How rigidly he has already imposed his
will is evident from the fact that Mikolajczyk,* the former PoHsh
Minister-in-exile, now proposes to submit to the dictates of the
Kremlin. Under protest admittedly, but what value are such pro-
tests today? Anyway the only choice for the Poles is either to be
exterminated by force or to bow to the Kremlin. Their ruUng class
has only to look at the nasty example of Bulgaria where 1200
prominent people have so far been executed. A nice round number
for the shop-window.
* Stanislaw Mikolajczyk, leader of the Polish Peasant Party, had succeeded General
Sikorski as Prime Minister of Poland in London. Stalin had taken the opportunity
of Sikorski's death (and the revelation by the Germans of the Katyn murders) to
transfer Russian recognition from the Polish government in London to the "Lublin
Committee" in Russia.
II MARCH 1945 lOI
In the East things are developing somewhat more favourably for

us. Our offensive in has got off to a good start. Gains of
Hungary
ground, however, have not been so great that we are altogether over
the hump. We
must wait a few days before giving a fmal verdict on
this offensive. Schörner has succeeded in beating off the very strong
attacks at Schwarzwasser without too serious losses. That is a major
victory.
Very serious communist disturbances have again taken place in
Rome. The Anglo-American occupation forces are totally power-
less since the disturbances are taking place under the wing of the
Kremlin. The Bonomi government gives the impression of a lot of
old men sitting on the fence and not knowing what to do. It thinks
that it can get the better of these disturbances by particularly severe
anti-fascist laws. But that is now no good any more. On the
contrary it is reported from all quarters that fascism is making a
certain come-back in enemy-occupied Italy.
Sundays are generally somewhat quieter. I can spend it doing
some reading and catching up on the week's accumulation of work.
In the air war it is the old story. Towns near the Western Front are
now being attacked. There is not much left to destroy there.
must be admitted that the morale both of our troops and of the
It
civil population in the West has been affected. The situation is

similar to that in the East seven weeks ago. We must do our utmost
to revive the resolution of our troops and civil population in the
West.
Heroes' Memorial Day was marked by a wreath-laying cere-
mony by Goring at the ruined Heroes' Memorial. In addition the
Führer issued a proclamation to the troops, repeating once more our
old war themes. The proclamation was characterised by virile
determination giving an extraordinarily convincing impression.
For this evening we are preparing a broadcast on Silesia
containing an account of my visit to Lauban and parts of my speech
in Görlitz. The broadcast makes an extraordinarily positive
impression for it radiates a strong fighting spirit. My speech in
Görlitz has been given excellent coverage in the press. It is my view
that such publications cannot fail to have their effect at the present
time. We must invariably lead our people back to the fundamental
themes of our war strategy and make clear to them that they have no
other choice but to fight or to die.
This evening it is reported that the Remagen bridgehead is still
there. Our efforts to eliminate it have not succeeded. The Ameri-
cans have one railway bridge available and have also thrown two
pontoon bridges across the Rhine. They have not succeeded in
102 II MARCH 1945
expanding the bridgehead further, however, since we are keeping it

under close watch. The American troops in the bridgehead are
under heavy artillery fire. The main body of our forces has now
reached the lower Moselle. Otherwise there have been no sen-
sational changes in the West during the course of the day.
Our offensive in Hungary is making slow but sure progress. In
general developments there may be called satisfactory. Our penet-
ration has been considerably extended. We have also advanced near
Lake Velencze, so that we can now talk of a real major offensive.
Schörner has again beaten off all attacks near Schwarzwasser,
though the Soviets launched a major first-class offensive. In the
Ratibor area too, where the enemy is doing his utmost to recapture
the ground he has lost, all attacks were repulsed. Schörner has not
yet been able to finish off the Soviet garrison of Striegau which is
surrounded; he hopes, however, to have put matters right by Mon-
day since we are proposing to send a press delegation of German
and neutral journaUsts to the town to see the atrocities committed
there. We have sHghtly improved our positions at Guben. There has
been no deterioration in the Stettin area. The situation in West
Prussia has become extraordinarily critical however. This is the
sensitive point of the Eastern Front at the moment.
I pay a visit of several hours to the Führer in the evening. The
Führer gives me an extraordinarily assured and resolute impression

and physically he seems in the best of form. I hand him one of the
copies I still possess of Carlyle's Frederick the Great which gives him
great pleasure. He emphasises that the great prototypes are the men
on whom we must model ourselves today and that Frederick the
Great was the most exceptional personaUty of them all. It must be
our ambition to set an example today on which later generations can
model themselves in similar crises and times of stress, just as today
we must take our cue from the heroes of past history.
I give the Führer a detailed account of my visit to Lauban. He is
also of the opinion that Schörner is one of our most outstanding

army commanders. He is the next army officer whom the Führer
wants to promote to Field Marshal. Schörner has largely succeeded
in stabilising the front in his area of command. It is due to him that
the troops' morale has been kept so outstandingly high.
I tell the Führer of the radical methods employed by Schörner to
achieve this end. Deserters get no mercy from him. They are hung
from the nearest tree with a placard round their neck saying: "I am a
deserter. I have refused to defend German women and children and
therefore I have been hung." Naturally such methods are effective.
Every man in Schörner's area knows that he may die at the front but
II MARCH 1945 103
will inevitably die in the rear. That is a very good lesson which will
assuredly strike home.
The repulse of the Soviet attacks at Schwarzwasser and the reten-
tion of Ratibor have so far safeguarded the Mährisch-Ostrau area
which is so vital to our war potential. The Führer emphasises yet
again that in his view the Soviets never intended to advance straight
on Berlin. For a long time he had been teUing his generals this over
and over again but they refused to listen to him. Had they done so
the tragedy in Pomerania would never have taken place. They had
concentrated the available forces in front of Berlin instead of locat-
ing them in the Pomeranian area to hold the anticipated Soviet
advance. The Führer lays much of the blame direct at Himmler's
door.* He had repeatedly urged Himmler to concentrate in
Pomerania. Himmler had allowed himself to be misled, however,
by repeated memoranda from the Intelligence Section, into believ-
ing in a drive on Berlin and making his dispositions accordingly. I
ask the Führer why he does not simply issue orders on questions so
vitally affecting our war strategy. The Führer rephes that this would
not do him much good, since even if he issued unequivocal orders,
they would always be nullified by backstage sabotage. In this con-
nection he reproaches Himmler bitterly. He had given clear orders
that a strong anti-tank defence Hne be constructed in the Pomera-
nian area; the necessary anti-tank guns, however, had arrived either
not at all or too late and so had done no good. At the very beginning
of his term army commander, therefore, Himmler had fallen prey
as
to the General Staff. The Führer accuses him of flat disobedience
and intends to give him a piece of his mind on the next available
occasion and make clear that, in the event of repetition of such an
instance, an irreparable breach would occur between him and
Himmler. Himmler wiU take this to heart and I will speak to him in
the same sense as well. Anyway I always thought it was wrong to
entrust Himmler with command of an Army Group. That is not his
job in the present situation, certainly not if it is Uable to lead to a
breach between him and
the Führer. Himmler has therefore tem-
porarily forfeited his promotion to Commander-in Chief of the
Army.t The Führer is very displeased with him. He is convinced
thatPomerania could have been held if his clear and expUcit order
had been carried out. Now hundreds of thousands of Pomeranians
have fallen victim to the fury of the Soviet rabble. Here too the
Führer is of the opinion that Himmler must accept the blame for
this. He now proposes to stop the increasing indiscipline among the
* i.e. for his failure as commander of Army Group Vistula.
t It is interesting to note that Himmler had evidently been promised this position.
104 ^^ MARCH 1945
generals by instituting itinerant courts martial under General

Hübner; their task will be to investigate forthwith any recalcitrance
in the higher levels of the Wehrmacht, to bring those concerned to
trial and have the guilty shot. It is simply intolerable that in this
critical phase of the war anyone should be able to do just as he likes. I
think, however, that the Führer has not yet got to the root of the
trouble. He must definitely clean up the top level of the Wehrmacht,
for if the top level is not in order, no one can be surprised if lower
levels go their own way. The Führer replies that he has no one who
could become Commander-in-Chief of the Army for instance. He
is right when he says that, had he appointed Himmler to this post,
the catastrophe would now be worse than it is anyway. He now

wants to promote to officer status young soldiers with front-Une
experience, no matter whether they know how to use a knife and
fork. Recipients of the Knights Cross should be taken from the
ranks of the fighting troops and trained as officers. The Führer
thinks that this will have a great effect on the rising generation. He
points to his experiences in the First World War when it would not
have been possible to promote a soldier, however highly decorated,
to officer status if he had not the right social upbringing. But what
good is social background in this critical time? We must do our
utmost to ensure that the right men are in command at the front, no
matter whether socially they are of command fibre or not. These
measures are all very good and undoubtedly effective. But they
come full late, if not too late.
I tell the Führer in detail of the impressions I gathered during my
visit to Lauban. I also describe to him in detail the atrocities I saw

there. The Führer agrees with me that our propaganda must now
highlight vengeance against the Soviets. Our offensive strength
must now be switched to the East. The East is decisive. The Soviets
must shed rivers of blood; then there may be a possibiHty of
bringing the Kremlin to its senses. Everything now depends on our
troops standing where they are and overcoming the bolshevist
horror. Developments in Hungary, which the Führer considers
very promising, show that if we really concentrate for an offensive,
we succeed. It is to be hoped that these operations continue in this
fashion.
In any case the Führer is of the opinion that the atrocity prop-
aganda I have initiated is entirely right and should be continued.
As far as the West is concerned the Führer inclines to my view
that the whole thing is a complete mess. Rundstedt has not been up
to commanding the battle in the West. He is too old, and moreover
comes of a school unsuited to modern warfare. The Führer has
II MARCH 1945 105
therefore relieved him and replaced him by Kesselring. He is due to

receive Rundstedt this very evening to tell him so. Rundstedt is of
course a highly respectable officer who has done us great service,

particularly in the liquidation of 20 July. The Führer therefore wants
— I impressed this on him forcibly - Rundstedt's reUef to be carried
out in the most decorous manner.
In general the Führer is pleased with Model. But he has been
unable to operate properly under Rundstedt. Had Model been given
the entire Western Front, his Army Group would not be in the state
in which it actually is.
As far as morale in the West is concerned, we must try to revive it,

if necessary by forceful methods. The population will soon recover
its poise even in regions occupied by the enemy. It is understandable
that they should have lost their nerve somewhat after months of
heavy air raids. Experience shows, however, that this changes
quickly as soon as the air raids stop and hunger starts to make people
think. The fact that white flags were hoisted here and there as the
Anglo-Americans arrived should not be taken too tragically. In any
case the Führer is firmly convinced that it will be easy for us to get
these people back on our side in the next few weeks. I tell the Führer
in detail of the situation in my home town of Rheydt, also that I
intend to have Vogelsang, the Oberbürgermeister installed by the
Americans, Uquidated by a terror squad I have assembled in BerUn.
The Führer is in full agreement. Moreover we shall now start
getting partisan activity under way in the enemy-occupied areas. I
intend to make a good start in Rheydt. The pastors have been
among the first to place themselves at the disposal of the Anglo-
Americans. There will be a good field of activity for our terror
groups here. Moreover if we recover this region, the Führer intends
to bring these pastors before a court martial which they will never
forget.
The Remagen bridgehead causes the Führer much anxiety. On
the other hand he is of the opinion that it offers us certain advan-
tages. Had the Americans not found a weak spot enabling them to
advance across the Rhine, they would probably have swung forth-
with against the Moselle and our stop-lines on the Moselle had not
then been constructed; there would therefore have been a danger of
the Moselle being crossed on a broad front which the Führer thinks
cannot now be done. Nevertheless it must be assumed that the
failure to blow the Remagen bridge may well be due to sabotage or
at least to serious negligence. The Führer has ordered an enquiry
and will impose the death sentence on anyone found guilty. The
Führer considers that the bridgehead is a defirüte thorn in the flesh
I06 II MARCH 1945
of the Americans. He has now ringed the bridgehead with heavy

weapons whose job it is to cause the severest possible casualties to
American forces concentrated in the bridgehead. It may well be,
therefore, that the bridgehead will not be all joy for the Americans.
The Führer's view is that we must succeed in holding the general
line Rhine-Moselle. The situation would then still be tolerable,
although we should have had to give up vital German territory. The
fact that at Trier the fortifications of the Siegfried Line were aban-
doned almost without a fight has caused the Führer the greatest
anxiety. He tells me that he was in a real fury when given the news.
But what can one do? There are certain types of officer who are not
up to the demands of war, particularly not morally. Moreover, in
this area we have Iqst much German manpower now under the
sway of the enemy. It must be our task to continue to work upon
them politically over the radio and we may well succeed in pro-
ducing very rapid results.
As far as the West is concerned, however, the Führer is still of the
opinion that we can be semi-satisfied with developments, although
we have had to suffer extraordinarily severe losses. Here too the
main thing is to stand firm under all circumstances and halt the
enemy on solid stop-lines.
Every effort is being made to destroy the Remagen railway
bridge and the two pontoon bridges constructed near it by the
enemy; the Luftwaffe and also Ught naval forces have been in action
on a large scale. Moreover in this area on the right bank of the Rhine
the enemy is in country extraordinarily unfavourable to him, where
he will find it very difficult to deploy for wide-ranging operations.
There is really nothing fresh to add regarding the air war. I tell the
Führer that the most recent Mosquito raids on Berlin have been
very heavy. This too the Führer had prophesied. During the coming
spring and summer these Mosquito raids will undoubtedly be a
severe trial since the Mosquito is very difficult, in fact almost
impossible, to shoot down. The less said about the enemy air terror
the better. The Führer has several times taken Goring severely to
task but without result. As a personality he has degenerated totally
and is sunk in lethargy. The Führer does not mince words on the
subject. But it is impossible to persuade him to make any internal
personnel changes in the Luftwaffe; he will not even impose on
Goring an efficient State Secretary in the Air Ministry, a move
which I am continually proposing. The Führer does not think that
this would do much good; in addition he says that he has no one
who could undertake the job. I counter this by saying that a good
State Secretary would at least put some order into the pande-
II MARCH 1945 107
monium in the Luftwaffe; the Führer opines, however, that even

if he were to try this. Goring would ehminate the man at once;
Goring will not tolerate a personality of any importance around
him, although he has no reason to be afraid, for the Führer will
never drop him. What a tragedy this is with our Luftwaffe! It has
totally gone to the dogs and one sees no possibility of dragging it up
again. It is simply out of its depth.
I am now very forceful in my criticism to the Führer of Goring
personally and the Luftwaffe in general. I put the straight question

to him whether the German people is ultimately to go under
because of the failure of its Luftwaffe, for in the last analysis all our
set-backs are due to that failure. The Führer admits all this but, as I
have already emphasised, he is not to be persuaded to make any
internal personnel change in the Luftwaffe. I ask him at least to clear
up the increasing corruption in the Luftwaffe. He thinks that this
cannot be done in one fell swoop but that in this case we must work
slowly, trying gradually to divest Goring of his position of power
and turn him into a mere figurehead. For instance he has com-
missioned SS-Obergruppenfiihrer Kammler to organise the trans-
port to operational bases of our fighter aircraft. The Luftwaffe is no
longer capable of doing even that. What a scandal for an air force
and its self-respect as an arm of the service! But what else can one do
other than try and attack this disgraceful situation from all angles?
In any case I put it quite clearly to the Führer that the Luftwaffe's
failure is now gradually leading to the most dire consequences for
him himself The people are reproaching him for failure to take a
decision in the dilemma facing us in the air war, for everybody
knows that the blame for this dilemma lies at Göring's door. In the
present emergency the people will not be convinced by the argu-
ment repeatedly adduced by the Führer that in the true German way
he must remain loyal to Goring. That does no good, for in the last
analysis we cannot allow ourselves to be ruined by this principle.
I describe to the Führer certain details about the Luftwaffe which
have come to light as a result of the measures for the introduction of

total war. The Führer is largely aware of them; they do not excite
him in the least but merely round off the picture he already has of
Goring and the Luftwaffe. I am nevertheless of the opinion that I
must continue to batter on in this way on the principle of water
dropping on a stone.
As far as the poUtical warfare situation is concerned I have the
impression that the Führer is slowly beginning to evolve a new
concept. He has already discussed the matter with Ribbentrop and
reached full agreement with him. I advise the Führer urgently to
I08 II MARCH 1945
war situation
issue an order stopping the political prattle about the
which goes on among prominent people both in the Party and the
state. This only weakens people's determination and will to fight.
There should only be a few people entitled to speak firankly about
the poUtical background to the war. The Führer is also of this
opinion. He tells me, for instance, that Goring recently urged the
creation of a new atmosphere vis-a-vis the enemy. The Führer
replied that he would be better employed creating a new atmo-
sphere in the air, which was quite right.
As far as our enemies' situation is concerned the Führer is still
convinced that the hostile coaHtion will break up. He no longer
thinks, however, that England will be the instigator of this since,
even if England now has a better grasp of the situation, it is of no
great importance. The point now is not what England wants but
what England can do and that is now nothing at all. Opposition to
Churchill's poHcy is insignificant and, being insignificant, it neither
can nor should express itself. Churchill is a gangster who has now
got into his head the crazy notion of destroying Germany no matter
whether England goes down in the process. So we have no alter-
native but to look round for other possibiHties. Perhaps this is just as
well since, if we could come to some arrangement with the East, we
should then have an opportunity of giving England the coup de grace
and this war would then really have achieved its true purpose.
As far as the United States are concerned they want to eliminate
Europe as a competitor and therefore they have no interest what-
soever in continuing to prop up what we call the Western world.
Moreover they intend to drag the Soviets into the Pacific war and
will make any sacrifice in Europe to this end. Moreover a reversal of
war poUcy is very difficult if not impossible both in Britain and the
United States since Roosevelt and even more Churchill have to take
too much account of their public opinion. With the Kremlin it is
totally different and Stahn is in a position to switch his war policy
1 80 degrees in a single night. It must therefore be our aim to drive
the Soviets back in the east, inflicting on them extraordinarily high

casualties both in men and material. Then the KremHn might show
itself more accommodating towards us. A separate peace in the East
would war situation fundamentally. In this sep-
naturally alter the
arate peace we
should naturally not achieve our aims of 194 1; the
Führer hopes, however, for a partition of Poland, retention of
Hungary and Croatia under German suzerainty, and freedom of
manoeuvre against the West. This would of course be an aim worth
expending some sweat to achieve. Elimination of the war in the East
and operational freedom in the West - what a splendid idea! The
II MARCH 1945 109
Führer is accordingly of the opinion that one should preach ven-

geance against the East but hatred of the West. The West, after all,
was the cause of the war and has been responsible for its expansion
to such fearful dimensions. The West is responsible for the des-
truction of our cities and reduction of our cultural monuments to
dust and ashes. If therefore, with coverage in the East, we could
succeed in driving back the Anglo-Americans, we should at once
achieve our object of eliminating England for ever as Europe's
permanent mischief-maker.
The programme divulged to me by the Führer is grandiose and
persuasive. The only objection is that there is no means of achieving
it. The opportunity must first be created by our soldiers in the East.
We require one or two respectable victories as a start; as things stand

at present it might be assumed that these could be achieved. We
must stake our all on this. This is what we must work for, fight for
and to this end we must, under all circumstances, re-estabUsh the
morale of our people.
I tell the Führer certain details of my trip to Lauban, in particular
my drive behind the bolshevist front during the evening. The

Führer is much taken aback that I should have driven for such a
distance behind the front; it would have been unthinkable had I
fallen into enemy hands in doing so. Apart from this the Führer
shares my view that we should now institute an organised counter-
terror against the bolshevist terror. Under all circumstances we
must overcome the bolshevist horror and we shall succeed in doing
so.
The conversation which I had with the Führer on this Sunday
evening was as frank as could be. The Führer no longer holds
anything back from me. Admittedly on the really important war
problems I have achieved no practical result this time. But I think, as
I have already said, that the poUcy of water dropping on a stone will
win. I am very pleased to find the Führer so extraordinarily alert and

resihent physically, morally and mentally.
The Führer's generals are waiting in his anteroom. They are a
weary-looking crowd making a depressing impression. It is a
shame that the Führer has so few respectable military men on his
staff. He himself is the only outstanding personaUty in this circle.
Why has no circle of Gneisenaus and Scharnhorsts collected around
him! I would make it my first duty to look out such a circle and place
it at the Führer's disposal. It is really pitiable to talk to generals of
this type and find that General Jodl, * for instance, is making a great
• Chief of Operations, OK W.
no II MARCH 1945
song and dance about the matter of the right of entry into air-
trivial
raid shelters as if it was of world-historical importance.
a question
So small-minded are the majority of the Führer's military advisers.
I find an enormous quantity of work back at home. Again the
regulation Mosquito raid. I am no longer taking these raids as

lightly as I did since they are doing us considerable damage.
In the evening the weekly newsreel is run through for me. It
includes shots of Lauban and Görlitz which are really moving. The
Führer's visit to the front is also included. In short, this newsreel
contains pictures of which we can make really good use for prop-
aganda purposes. Unfortunately the weekly newsreel can only
appear at irregular intervals since we have neither the necessary raw
materials nor faciHties for distribution for regular showings. Since it
only appears irregularly our efforts to make it effective must be all
the greater.
That was an eventful Sunday. I think it is good that I should go to
the Führer regularly on Sunday evenings and have a prolonged talk
with him, letting other evening visits drop. A
weekly conversation
with the Führer at such length and in such depth has a more lasting
effect in my view than a talk every evening from which nothing
much emerges.
MONDAY 12 MARCH 1945
(pp- 1-32)
Military Situation.
In Hungary our offensive made progress, though in some cases it
was only small. The Soviets have brought up Bulgarian and Ruma-
nian formations as reinforcements. In Slovakia all enemy attacks in
the main centre of activity, the Schemnitz-Altsohl area, were held
deep in the battle zone. In the Schwarzwasser area, where the enemy
made violent attacks throughout the day, another complete defen-
sive victory was scored yesterday; the same applies to the bridge-
head north of Ratibor, where very strong Soviet counter-attacks
were repulsed. The garrison of the fortress of Breslau beat off
attacks of reduced strength from the north and recaptured a number
of housing blocks in the southern part of the city. The Soviet forces
surrounded at Striegau have been split into four battle groups of
which two have already been annihilated and the remaining two are
facing annihilation. No operations ofimportance on the Neisse front.
Between Frankfurt and Küstrin and between Lebus and Gör-
litz enemy attacks throughout the day by five Rifle Divisions were
successfully beaten off. In Küstrin ground lost on the previous day

was recovered by counter-attack. In the Stettin area Soviet attacks
on our bridgehead south of the city were successfully repulsed. The
German formations fighting their way back from Greifenberg
gained contact with our own forces in Dievenow. In West Prussia
our troops are defending a wide bridgehead round Gotenhafen and
Danzig. All enemy attacks were beaten off In East Prussia enemy
attacks in regimental strength were repulsed at Zinten. All along the
front there has been Uvely Soviet reconnaissance activity so that a
resumption of major operations must be reckoned with in the next
few days.
On the Courland front a complete defensive victory was scored
yesterday in the Frauenburg area.
On the Western Front there was heavy artillery fire in the
112 12 MARCH 1945
Nijmegcn- Emmerich area. In addition very lively enemy recon-

naissance activity has been in progress in this area since yesterday,
so a fresh enemy offensive is imminent in this area. Apart from
isolated artillery duels there have been no special developments
along the whole Rhine front as far as Remagen. Strong counter-
attacks were made on the enemy bridgehead at Remagen. The
enemy was driven out of Honnef and the hills north-east of the
town. Counter-attacks are in progress against an enemy advance
eastwards. The enemy was also driven out of Hönningen.
Counter-attacks are in progress against the Rhine highway south of
Linz. Between the Ahr and the Moselle our bridgeheads at Neuwied
and Engers were withdrawn, whereas those at Niederbreisig and
Nicderbrohl are still held. Our bridgeheads over the Moselle at
Gondorf and Moselsiirch are also holding out. Between the western
Eifel and the Moselle front the enemy is moving up to the Moselle.
His leading troops are now west of the big loop in the Moselle at
Traben-Trarbach.
In other sectors of the Western Frontthere were only local actions
and minor raids.
No special operations took place in Italy.
On the Eastern Front both sides were very active in the air over
the main operational areas. Our own air force was in action in
considerable strength in Hungary and the central sector of the
eastern front. Our fighters shot down a total of 65 enemy aircraft.
The bridge at Görlitz was hit and destroyed by close support
aircraft.
On the Western Front air activity was small.
Over Reich territory strong American four-engined bomber
formations with fighter escort raided port installations in Ham-
burg, Kiel and Bremen. In the afternoon 500 British aircraft with
fighter escort attacked Essen and other places in the Ruhr. Strong
twin-engined bomber formations raided the Rhine-Main area,
Münsterland and the industrial zone. During the night high-speed
aircraft carried out harassing raids on Berlin and Magdeburg.
The morale of the German people, both at home and at the front, is
sinking ever lower. The Reich propaganda agencies are com-
plaining very noticeably about this. The people thinks that it is
facing a perfectly hopeless situation in this war. Criticism of our
war strategy does not now stop short even of the Führer himself He
is being reproached primarily for failure to take decisions on vital
war problems, particularly those concerning personnel. The case of

13 MARCH 1945 113
Goring is given special mention. The Führer should have changed

the top-level personnel in the Luftwaffe long ago. People take the
fact that it does not happen as an indication either that he does not
know the true state of affairs, which would be very bad, or that he
does know but makes no changes, which would be even worse. It
must always be pointed out, however, that the present level of
morale must not be confused with definite defeatism. The people
will continue to do their duty and the front-line soldier will defend
himself as far as he has a possibiHty of doing so. These possibüities
are becoming increasingly Umited, however, primarily owing to
the enemy's air superiority. The air terror which rages unin-
terruptedly over German home territory makes people thoroughly
despondent. One feels so impotent against it that no one can now
see a way out of the dilemma. The total paralysis of transport
in West Germany also contributes to the mood of increasing
pessimism among the German people.
As far as the Eastern Front is concerned people recognise that it
has stabihsed to a degree but they anticipate an imminent Soviet
advance on Berlin and Dresden and think that the war will really be
decided in this area. People are hoping, nevertheless, that we have
adequate reserves available to hold this advance.
The Führer's recent proclamation of 24 February has made an
extraordinarily good impact, principally because the Führer
described the overall war situation in such firm assured tones; he
held out some hope to the German people when he stressed that the
decisive turning-point of the war was to be expected this year.
The only feeling expressed about the war in the East is one of
revenge. AU our people now give credence to the atrocities com-
mitted by the Bolshevists. No one makes light of our warnings any
longer. People also know, however, that as a result of the Soviet
advance our food situation is very critical and people doubt whether
we shall be able to find even a semi-satisfactory solution to this
problem.
In general it may be said that, taking into account the extra-
ordinarily critical situation, the people is presenting a com-
paratively good demeanour, though naturally certain profound
cracks in morale are noticeable. To a certain extent, however, they
resemble spots which come and go on the face of a person not in
good health.
The enemy also confirms that in general German troops in the
West are showing an unbroken fighting spirit. Almost all prisoners,
they say, are firmly convinced ofa German victory. Hitler represents
to them a sort of national myth and correspondents fear that, even if
114 12 MARCH 1945
Germany overrun, he will be the embodiment of the German

is
dream even greater extent after defeat than he is now.

to an
The enemy still does not know about the change of command in
the West* and is still drivelling on about Rundstedt having certain
trump cards in his hand which he will now play.
The enemy is issuing pretty severe legislation for the towns and
villages he has occupied. That is all to the good since people in the
West were convinced that they would have an easier time with the
Americans and British than with the Soviets. People are only
allowed out for two hours a day; otherwise they are confined to
their houses. We ought to have instituted such measures in the areas
we occupied; then things would not have reached the grotesque
pass which they did during our occupation of France, for instance.
The crossing of the Rhine at Remagen has led to a fall of
thousands of millions of dollars on the New York stock exchange.
The enemy stock exchange always reacts sourly to good war news,
proof of the fact that the Jews pulHng the strings are interested only
in prolonging the war as far as possible.
The enemy press agencies, on the other hand, take quite a dif-
ferent view. They think that the war will be at an end in ten to
twelve days' time and that a German capitulation is imminent. The
enemy is in for a severe disappointment when we do something
very different from capitulating.
American war reporters say that very severe fighting is raging in
the Remagen bridgehead. The Americans are suffering very heavy
losses, which after all is the object of the exercise. In particular they
fear that we shall now proceed to take larger-scale measures and that
the bridgehead is not tenable in the long run.
At midday I have a telephone call from Gauleiter Simon, t who
tells me of his anxiety over this bridgehead. People cannot under-
stand how it came about that the Remagen bridge was not blown at
the proper time. The result has been a degree of antagonism be-
tween the population and the Wehrmacht. People accuse the
Wehrmacht of failing to give them the necessary support at this
moment. It is true that in the Eifel villages the farmers want to keep
their villages undamaged as far as possible and show no great
enthusiasm for war being waged on their own patch of soil.
So-called stragglers are again causing the greatest anxiety in the
West. Whenever the enemy breaks through our front they reappear.
Marauding deserters get on the road, pretend to be stragglers from
units, play on the sympathy of the population and just fish in
* i.e. thereplacement of Rundstedt by Kesselring. See above p. 105.
t Gauleiter of the Moselle.
12 MARCH 1945 115
troubled waters. Simon points out to me most seriously that people

in the West are extraordinarily war-weary. This
is of course un-
avoidable in view of the heavy air raids to which they have now
been subjected for months and years. He is expecting me to address
the West German population. He makes the somewhat naive
request that I should give some real promises for the conduct of the
war in the immediate future. It would be very nice if Goring, for
instance, who so frequently addressed the people in stentorian tones
during the good old days, were now to say something on this
subject, since it is he who is mainly to blame for the present war
situation.
Balzer* has returned from his trip to the West. He too gives me a
fairly depressing report and tells me of the serious antagonisms
between the troops and the local population; he stresses, however,
that the set-backs in the West have been due primarily to the fact
that our lines were too thinly manned, that the troops had been
ordered to defend every yard of ground whatever happened, and
that once the enemy had broken through it was impossible to hold
him. Model is very downcast over this set-back but otherwise is still
the dynamic personaHty which we all know. He is afraid that, unless
we succeed in ehminating the Remagen bridgehead, the Anglo-
Americans wül swing either towards Frankfurt or north towards
the Ruhr. Model is therefore demanding a number of reinforcing
divisions in order to hold at least the line of the Rhine with some
degree of security.
The Anglo-Americans are not setting their sights so high. On the
contrary they maintain that there must now be a pause in the
fighting owing to their heavy losses. They are full of admiration for
the Nazi spirit, still in evidence during the battles in the West. They
are quite clear that the National-Socialist leadership of the Reich
will fight on under all circumstances and there is no question
whatsoever of capitulation in the true sense of the word.
The situation in France is still very unstable and it is caused
primarily by the food problem. The French are cold and starving.
The Anglo-Americans take not the smallest account of their aUies'
domestic situation to say nothing of the ItaUans. Disease is rampant
in enemy-occupied Italy. There is an epidemic of syphihs among
the people of Rome, giving rise to considerable anxiety even on the
enemy side.
A further factor is the increasing criticism of the Yalta decisions.
It has reached a noteworthy level both in London and in
* OKW liaison officer with the Ministry of Propaganda.

Il6 12 MARCH 1945
Washington. In Washington it is somewhat muted since the Ameri-

cans are hoping that Stahn will enter the Pacific war. He must make
up his mind by 13 April. On that day the Soviet-Japanese non-
aggression pact must either be revoked or automatically prolonged
for five years.
I have sensational news from neutral sources about Cham-
berlain's timely death. After the PoUsh campaign Chamberlain had
advocated an attempt at a compromise peace with Germany. The
real enemy of Europe, he said, and therefore of Britain's position as
a world power, was not the Reich but the Soviet Union. If the war
were continued, it would certainly turn into a war of attrition.
Germany might perhaps go down in this war of attrition but
England certainly would. This forecast of Chamberlain's was dis-
missed by the Churchill chque at the time as the idle talk of a tired
and senile man. It has turned out to be true to an astonishing degree.
People on the British side even suspect that Churchill com-
missioned the Secret Service to administer poison to Chamberlain. I
do not believe this but it is a fact that Churchill was not particularly
downcast at Chamberlain's death.
The Japanese are now making tabula rasa in French Indo-China.
They are dismissing the French military commandants and taking
control themselves.
We hear from American sources that Roosevelt intends to include
the Emperor ofJapan on the Ust of war criminals. That is very good.
The Emperor is revered as a god in Japan. If he is placed on the war
criminals Ust, no Japanese pohtician, not even those most inclined to
compromise, will dare stop fighting the USA.
Increasing interest in developments in Rumania is being shown in
England. Radescu is still in the British Legation and the Soviets
cannot get him out. British newspapers complain about the
government's pohcy of silence. They are demanding a frank expla-
nation of developments in Rumania which naturally the Churchill
government cannot give.
To appease public opinion the Soviets are spreading the rumour
that Mannerheim is back in office. Clearly he is intended to provide
a cloak of legaUty for the electoral campaign now beginning.
Pravda, however, proclaims most emphatically that the Finnish
election is not a domestic Finnish affair. In other words the Soviets
intend to interfere using every trick of the trade.
At midday I have a visit from the Berhn Kreisleiters*; I give them
a one-and-a-half hour's survey of the present state ofthe war and the
* "District leaders" subordinate to the Gauleiter.

12 MARCH 1945 117
duties now incumbent on leaders in the Reich capital. In this circle

one can speak freely and openly. I am happy doing this since I feel I
am among people who think as I do.
The evacuation problem become extremely acute,
has again
mainly as a resultof developments in Pomerania. Some 300—
400,000 men have fallen into Soviet hands in Pomerania. Mili^
tary events moved so fast that it was no longer possible to evacuate
them from the threatened area in time. The refugee situation in the
Danzig—West Prussian area is becoming very difficult. Förster is
now encumbered with hundreds of thousands of people from East
Prussia and he can no longer get them away.
Hamburg was heavily raided yesterday. The enemy is clearly
trying to hit our U-boat yards since here lies a vital chance for us to
change the fortunes of war. Recent Mosquito raids on Berhn have
become heavier still. Serious damage is being done to our transport
system. The British have now raided the capital every evening for
21 days in a row with these loathsome Mosquitos. There is in effect
no defence against them.
The investigation of the Foreign Office by my Total War staff is
encountering the greatest difficulties. The gentlemen of the Foreign
Office treat this Hke a major diplomatic manoeuvre. Reading the
reports, one can only chuckle. The Foreign Office is manned by a
completely dessicated body of civil servants who understand only
formalities and show no signs of healthy natural activity.
General Hauenschild will be on the sick list for about three
weeks. That is a severe loss for us. He is being replaced by General
Reymann whom I do not know. The offices of Fortress Com-
mandant Berlin and Commanding General wiU henceforth be
separated; Hauenschildt will remain Commanding General and
Reymann will take over the duties of Fortress Commandant. I must
take a closer look at him since I must have a first-class man for these
duties which are of overriding importance. Unfortunately General
Hoffmeister, the City Commandant, Berlin, is also seriously ill so
that at the moment we are very short of high-level military com-
manders in Berlin. I must put things to rights quickly since a Soviet
advance on Berlin may be anticipated any day despite all indications
to the contrary.
During the afternoon write a leading article on the theme "To
I
work and to the guns!" In this article I give a series of stern
inexorable slogans for the further prosecution of the struggle.

The evening situation report shows no great change in the West.
The situation in the Remagen bridgehead has also remained the
same. We are in process of bringing up strong reinforcements at this
Il8 12 MARCH 1945
point. In the Emmerich area the enemy is using smoke and ranging
his artillery. So the next offensive must be anticipated here.
As far as the East is concerned developments in Hungary are very
satisfactory. We have crossed the River Sio and formed two bridge-
heads on the far bank. That is pleasing news. An attempt is now to
be made to get the enemy on the run at last. A break-through has
also been made higher up, so that we can now probably move on in
this area. Developments in the Schwarzwasser area are less satis-
factory; there the enemy has penetrated to a depth of 7 km. It is to be
hoped Schörner wül deal with the situation, for the vital coal-
mining and industrial area of Mährisch-Ostrau is at stake here. At
Ratibor enemy attacks, though very heavy, were unsuccessful. The
last groups of enemy have now been fmally annihilated in Striegau.
Our home and foreign correspondents can now therefore visit the
town. In the Danzig area developments have been unfavourable.
The enemy has now reached the sea at certain points. The general
situation at the front remains fluid. In some places it is favourable
for us, in othersunbehevably bad. point now is whether
The vital
we can achieve a real break-through in Hungary. If that were so, our
war prospects would improve considerably and we might possibly
be on the threshold of a fresh start.
(pp. 1-41)
Military Situation.
In Hungary our offensive south-east of Lake Balaton is making
good progress. Two bridgeheads were formed across the River Sio.
Equally, south-east of Lake Balaton ground was gained at Aba. East
of Stuhlweissenburg our tank attack, led by "Tigers", penetrated
some 8 km farther east.
In Slovakia there was violent fighting at Altsohl where the enemy
penetrated at certain places. The enemy also made a break-in at the
Jablonka Pass. He was then held, however, and in some places
thrown back by counter-attacks. Heavy Soviet attacks on the area
round Mährisch-Ostrau were again repulsed apart from one break-
in to a depth of about 3 km. Striegau was recaptured in a spirited
attack. Enemy attacks on Breslau and south of Cosel failed. No
special developments on the Neisse front. On the Oder front vio-
lent enemy attacks took place between Frankfurt and Küstrin,
particularly at Küstrin itself, enemy achieved nothing. In
but the
this sector11,000 rounds have been fired from about 100 guns in a
space of one and a half hours, showing that the ammunition situ-
ation has improved considerably meanwhile. Numerous enemy
concentrations were broken up by artillery fire. Enemy attacks east
of Stettin failed. Dievenow fell into enemy hands. Attacks on
Kolberg were repulsed. In West Prussia the enemy attacked mainly
south and north of Neustadt. He made some penetrations south of
Neustadt but was driven back to his start Hnes by counter-attack.
Farther north Putzig fell into enemy hands. The approaches to the
Putzig coastal belt, however, are still in our hands. Fighting in East
Prussia slackened.
In Courland heavy enemy attacks were again repulsed south of
Frauenburg.
On the Western Front there were violent artillery exchanges.
Leverkusen in particular and areas to the rear of it were under
120 13 MARCH 1945
enemy fire. South of Düsseldorf we pushed our outposts forward to

Zons. Violent fighting took place in the Linz bridgehead. The
enemy gained a little ground north of Honnef and east of Linz
against stiff resistance and counter-attacks. He is now north of
Honnef and some 4^ km east of Linz. Only local actions took place
on the Moselle between Koblenz and Kochem and in the Trier
break-in area. A number of tanks were driven off south of Saarburg.
Enemy attempts to advance at Saarlautern and between Saar-
brücken and Saargemünd were defeated. There was lively recon-
naissance activity by both sides in the Hagenau area.
In the West enemy fighter-bombers and low-flying aircraft were
very active. Many sorties were made by twin-engined bomber
formations. Our own aircraft scored numerous hits on the railway
and pontoon bridges at Remagen.
Some 1 1 00 American four-engined bombers attacked port and
transport installations in Swinemünde. Marburg/Lahn, Friedberg,
Wetzlar and Frankfurt am Main were also raided. Targets in
Dortmund and the Bochum—Gelsenkirchen area were attacked by
600 British four-engined bombers. Some 550 American four-
engined bombers from Italy raided Vienna. Smaller formations
dropped bombs on Graz and Brück an der Mur. During the night
there was again a harassing raid on Berlin. Bombs were dropped on
Magdeburg by 10 Mosquitos.
On the western side the enemynot quite sure of himself

is still
Particularly the British are afraid thatwe may be able to gain

enough time to re-form our front beyond the Rhine and of this they
arc very apprehensive. The state of affairs in the West may be
judged from the fact that the British are refusing Soviet reporters
access to the front. Thismay, however, merely be tit for tat for the
Soviet refusal to allow Anglo-American correspondents up to the
Eastern Front, which has always been the case so far. The British
and Americans have been very vexed by this in the past and are no
doubt now seeking to take their revenge.
A lively exchange of congratulatory telegrams about the des-
truction of German cities in the West is in progress between
Eisenhower and Harris.* For civiUsed people this exchange of
telegrams is a disgraceful document. I believe that in 50 years' time
• Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, C-in-C RAF Bomber Command.

13 MARCH 1945 121
European mankind will avert its eyes in disgust from this cynicism.
These two super-gangsters act as if the destruction of a German
cultural city was a deed of heroism. They brag about their bar-
barities and brutalities, showing thereby that at the height of their
triumph they are neither worthy of nor do they deserve the victories
they have won. Nevertheless people in Eisenhower's headquarters
are clear that they stul face a titanic struggle in the West. They
declare that on both sides war is being waged without mercy and
that there is no question whatsoever of the German Wehrmacht
yielding. Above all people in Eisenhower's headquarters are deeply

impressed by the fact that all German prisoners of war still have
faith in victory and - as they expUcitly state — beUeve in Hitler with
well-nigh mystical fanaticism.
Fighting around the bridgehead has become extraordinarily bit-
ter. It is costing us severe losses, but so it is to the enemy. How
difficult the situation in the bridgehead is for the Americans is
shown by the fact that they are now suddenly saying that it is of no
very great significance. Clearly the enemy has been reaching for the
sky. Nevertheless this is of course still the most sensitive point in the
West.
American reports reveal a cheerless situation in Bonn at present.
The inhabitants are cold and hungry. Now that the Party and the
authorities have gone they have no one to turn to. Some wretched
American officer is trying to govern. One can imagine what things
are Uke there.
Over and over again Anglo-American reports emphasise that the
population in the West is stul sunk in dull apathy. This is entirely
understandable after the frightful air bombardments of recent
weeks and months. Experience shows, however, that this will
quickly disappear. In any case one may be sure that the Americans
will have considerable trouble in administering this complex area.
Things wul not be as easy as they obviously think.
The Jews are re-emerging. Their spokesman is the well-known
notorious Leopold Schwarzschüd;* he is now arguing in the
American press that under no circumstances should Germany be
given lenient treatment. Anyone in a position to do so should kill
these Jews off Uke rats. In Germany, thank God, we have already
done a fairly complete job. I trust that the world will take its cue
from this.
As far as the poHtical situation is concerned opinion in England
against Soviet high-handedness in the world is daily becoming
• Former editor of Das Tagebuch, who had emigrated to America.

122 13 MARCH 1945
more vocal. The Manchester Guardian has now joined the chorus of
criticism; it complaining primarily that the Soviets have cut
is
Rumania off from the outside world so completely that no news of

internal Rumanian developments can be obtained. These are the old
Kremlin tactics; as soon as the Soviets have occupied a country, they
let fall an iron curtain* so that they can carry on their fearful bloody
work behind it.
The battle about a new so-called PoUsh government has now
flared up in Moscow. The British and Americans are trying to
persuade Molotov to accept at least Mikolajczyk on to the Lublin
Committee. The Soviets will not allow themselves to be persuaded
however. On the contrary they are determined to be the only ones
to lay down the law in Poland and for this purpose are making use
exclusively of the Lublin Committee which is dependent on them
and subservient to them; as is well known it is mere bolshevist
camouflage.
In Finland too the bolshevists are making every effort to influence
the forthcoming elections. People in England are afraid that the
result will be a so-called Baltic election, in other words that the
bolshevists will terrorise the electorate as they did in the Baltic
States, where in some places they received over 100% of the valid
votes.
With the alleged capture of Küstrin StaUn has now issued his
300th victory Order of the Day. These 300 Orders of the Day are for
us a unique calendar of misfortune. We ought to have pricked up
our ears when the third was issued; but we allowed even the
thirtieth to pass unnoticed and drew no conclusions from it; now
comes the 300th which, although not quite factually correct, looms
over us hke a dark fate. StaUn's Order of the Day, moreover, is not
entirely incorrect in saying that with this 300th stage on the road to a
bolshevist victory the German military machine has been largely
smashed to atoms.
The Duce's sociaUsation of key industries in northern Italy has
produced a certain favourable reaction among the ItaUan working
class. It is not true that this sociaHsation was an improvised gim-
mick. On the contrary, from recent reports it is a well-thought-out
measure and its psychological effect has been considerable.
At midday I have a prolonged discussion with the Berlin Defence
Council. General Reymarm, who will be dealing with BerHn's
defence problems as long as General Hauenschildt is sick and will
• It now seems that this phrase must be ascribed to Goebbels (sec also below pp.
133, 160, 165). It was also used, by Schwerin von Krosigk. It was made
at this time,
famous by Churchill in his Fulton speech.
13 MARCH 1945 123
probably succeed General Hauenschild in these duties, paid me his

inaugural visit. He did not make any very great impression on me.
He is the typical sort of bourgeois general who will do his duty
faithfully and honestly but from whom no extraordinary output is
to be expected. Examination of the overall state of BerUn's defences
revealed a number of gaps. In particular we are very badly off for
ammunition. I shall now devote special attention to this problem.
A check on Berlin railway stations revealed an enormous quan-
tity of mihtary equipment — including ammunition — stored away
somewhere in sidings. As far as possible I intend to lay hands on
these stores for the defence of Berlin.
The pioneers have prepared far more extensive demolitions in
Berlin than is necessary. The defence lay-out indicates that the
pioneers are obviously working on the assumption that they are in
enemy territory. In emergency, for instance, they intend to blow all
bridges leading into Berlin. If this was in fact done the Reich capital
would inevitably starve. I am putting things to rights here and
ensuring that the pioneers do not look upon their job purely from
the pioneer point of view.
For the moment we are not setting up summary courts martial in
Berhn although we have become a front-line city. As long as the
Peoples Court is still in BerHn, I think I can manage with that.
General von Knobelsdorf together with Regierungspräsident*
Binding has investigated the Army Personnel Section and found
arrangements there to be excellent. The Army Personnel Section is
the first Wehrmacht organisation where everything is totally in
order and of which no criticism can be made. Obviously therefore
General Burgdorft has done a good job here too.
Deputy Gauleiter von Körbert reports to me on his investigation
of the Luftwaffe. Here the opposite is the case. The Luftwaffe is one
great rubbish-heap of corruption and understandably Körber prop-
oses either that it should simply be disbanded or reduced to the
essential minimum size, since it is in no way capable of doing its job.
When I call to mind that the amount of petrol available to the
Luftwaffe has fallen from 193,000 tons to 8000, then I realise what
can be expected of the Luftwaffe and what cannot. What use is all
this mass output of new fighters when we have not even the petrol
or the crews to put them into action?
Liese, § a member of my staff, has been busy investigating the
* Senior District Government official

t Head of the Army Personnel Section and Hitler's military Adjutant.
i Acting Gauleiter of Mecklenburg.
§ Kurt Liese, general of infantry.
124 13 MARCH 1945
Wehrmacht in the Netherlands. There too he found a disgraceful

situation. There are in the Netherlands a whole series of head-
quarters which have simply been withdrawn from France and
Belgium and are now leading a comfortable gormandising exis-
tence in Dutch villages. I shall put an end to them very quickly.
The air war is still frightful. This time it was the turn of
Dortmund and even more of Swinemünde. In Swinemünde the
enemy bombed our refugee camps. A number of ships were sunk in
Swinemünde harbour including a refugee steamer with 2000 per-
sons on board. There was a sort of mass catastrophe here. In
addition late reports are coming from Essen, Dessau and Chemnitz.
These places have been reduced to heaps of ruins.
The Führer has now decided that, notwithstanding the extra-
ordinary difficulties, evacuation is to continue in the West. In prac-
tice this cannot be done since the people simply refuse to leave their
towns and villages. We should have to use force and where can we
fmd men to use force or men who will accept it? The decision taken
by the Führer is based on false premisses. This I can see from a
situation report handed to me by Speer after a trip to the West. Speer
studied conditions exhaustively and reached the conclusion that
further evacuation is impracticable. Speer grumbles at the measures
taken. His viewpoint is that it is no function of war policy to lead a
people to a hero's doom and that, referring to the First World War,
this was quite expUcitly emphasised by the Führer himself in his
book Mein Kampf. This comment applies above all to German
diplomacy which has discovered no way, during the present war
crisis, of relieving Germany of war on two fronts which is now
gradually hammering us to pieces.
The evening report shows no major change in the situation in the
West which means that it continues to be unfavourable to us. We
have not succeeded in eliminating the Remagen bridgehead. Instead
the enemy has reinforced it. It now contains parts of five American
divisions. The British, true to form, have withdrawn two divisions
from one for Greece and one for the Middle East. These
Italy,
moves of a typically anti-Soviet character. They show that
are
antagonisms in the enemy camp have become very pronounced and
give us cause for further hope. In Hungary our troops have made
only small progress. I have the impression that our offensive has
bogged down, the consequences of which would be fateful. Admit-
tedly Sepp Dietrich has succeeded in forming a bridgehead across
the Sio but it is questionable whether he can advance out of it. In the
Führer's headquarters at least people are beginning to say that
things must now really get going. So far one detects no trace of real
13 MARCH 1945 125
impulsion about these operations. We must not lose hope however.

The enemy launched an extraordinarily powerful attack at
Schwarzwasser, but Schörner met it with a counter-attack so that
the enemy made no significant gains of ground. In Breslau the
situation is somewhat calmer, but we must reckon with further
heavy attacks soon. Enemy probes in the Frankfurt-Küstrin area
were unsuccessful. In the Stettin sector also no change. It seems,
therefore, that Soviet forces are fairly well committed and that they
cannot carry out any wide-ranging operations at the moment. The
situation at Danzig has taken a turn for the worse. Further enemy
penetrations are reported and the city is now under artillery fire. In
East Prussia a new major offensive has opened and penetrated to a
depth of 4 km. hoped to deal with
It is it however. In Courland all
enemy attacks were repulsed.

In general terms the military situation is still in the balance. No
firm estimate of future developments can be made.
In the evening we have the regulation Mosquito raid on Berlin.
These Mosquito raids are becoming heavier and more distressing
day by day. Above all they are doing great damage to the Berlin
transport system.
This evening's Mosquito raid was particularly disastrous for me
because our Ministry was hit. The whole lovely building on the
Wilhelmstrasse was totally destroyed by a bomb. The throne-
room, the Blue Gallery and my newly rebuilt theatre hall are
nothing but a heap of ruins. I drove straight to the Ministry to see
the devastation for myself. One's heart aches to see so unique a
product of the architect's art, such as this building was, totally
flattened in a second. What trouble we have taken to reconstruct the
theatre hall, the throne-room and the Blue Gallery in the old style!
With what care have we chosen every fresco on the walls and every
piece of furniture! And now it has all been given over to destruction.
In addition fire has now broken out in the ruins, bringing with it an
even greater risk since 500 bazooka missiles are stored underneath
the burning wreckage. I do my utmost to get the fire brigade to the
scene as quickly and in as great strength as possible, so as at least to
prevent the bazooka missiles exploding.
As I do all this I am overcome with sadness. It is 12 years to the
day — 1 3 March - since I entered this Ministry as Minister. It is the
worst conceivable omen for the next twelve years.
All my staff are on the spot - Schach, Steeg and Gorum — and all
of them make the greatest efforts to save whatever can be saved. But
from the finest part of the building there is nothing to be saved. But
what good is all this lamentation and melancholy. We must turn our
126 13 MARCH 1945
back on these things and concentrate on maintaining at least the

freedom and territory of our people. That does not prevent one
being depressed, however, at so severe a loss, particularly when it
affects one personally.
The Führer telephones me immediately after the raid on the
Ministry. He too is very sad that it has now hit me. So far we have
been lucky even during the heaviest raids on Berlin. Now, how-
ever, we have lost not only a possession but an anxiety. In future I
need no longer tremble for the Ministry.
All those present at the fire voiced only scorn and hatred for
Goring. All were asking repeatedly why the Führer does not at last
do something definite about him and the Luftwaffe.
The Führer than asks me over for a short visit. During the
interview I have with him he is very impressed by my account of
things. I give him a description of the devastation which is being
wrought and tell him particularly of the increasing fury of the
Mosquito raids which take place every evening. I cannot prevent
myself voicing sharp criticism of Goring and the Luftwaffe. But it is
always the same story when one talks to the Führer on this subject.
He explains the reasons for the decay of the Luftwaffe, but he cannot
make up his mind to draw the consequences therefrom. He tells me
that after the recent interviews he had with him Goring was a
broken man. But what is the good ofthat! I can have no sympathy
with him. If he did lose his nerve somewhat after his recent
clash with the Führer, that is but a small punishment for the
frightful misery he has brought and is still bringing on the German
people.
I beg the Führer yet again to take action at last, since things cannot
go on like this. We ought not, after all, to send our people to their
doom because we do not possess the strength of decision to root out
the cause of our misfortune. The Führer tells me that new fighters
and bombers are now under construction, of which he has certain
hopes. But we have heard it so often before that we can no longer
bring ourselves to place much hope in such statements. In any case it
is now plenty late — not to say too late — to anticipate any decisive
effect from such measures.

The Führer adds that before the war he had repeatedly demanded
the construction of high-speed bombers, primarily of the Mosquito
type; he had expected them to be very successful in the bombing of
enemy cities. But, Uke much else, this had not been done and it is no
good the Führer saying today that he had wanted the right thing but
had not insisted on it. In this too Goring always knew better -just
like Himmler during present operations in the East, the Führer
13 MARCH 1945 127
adds. Himmler had always reckoned that the enemy would advance
on Berlin, whereas according to the Führer's forecast he was more
likely to go for Pomerania, as in fact happened. The Führer shows
me the shorthand record of the military briefing conferences which
took place at that time, from which it was plain that the Führer was
absolutely right in his forecast. Here again, however, I can only
answer: what good are explanations; the people demand that mat-
ters be settled. They are clamouring for measures of a decisive
nature to put an end to the jungle of overall mihtary leadership.
The Führer tells me that the itinerant courts martial under
General Hübner* have now started work. Their first case was the
commanding general responsible for the failure to blow the Honnef
bridge; he was condemned to death and shot within two hours. This
at least is light on the horizon. Only by such methods can we save
the Reich. Colonel-General Fromm too has been shot meanwhile. I
request the Führer urgently to continue with measures of this sort
so that one day our high-ranking officers wiU at last be compelled to
obey orders. Another general, who refused to permit a National-
Socialist Leadership officer to do his job, will now be brought to
trial and probably condemned to death.
Before the recent Anglo-American offensive we had a total of i '5
miUion men in the West. In fighting troops Rundstedt did not
contrive to extract more than 60 full-strength divisions from this
number of men. The total war principle has therefore only been
followed very superficially in this region, a real scandal when one
looks at the results.
Dr Ley has been in the West and allowed Manteuffelt to pull the
wool over his eyes. Manteuffel asked him to make representations
to the Führer that commanding generals in the West be given
greater plenary powers. But they do not lack plenary powers. All
they have to do is to use them. The Führer has never reproached a
general for failure to make use of his powers to re-establish order
and discipline; he has only criticised when generals have failed to use
their powers for these purposes. The trouble, therefore, is not that
military commanders have not been endowed with sufficient
powers of command. On the contrary they go their own way; when
it does not suit them they refuse to obey the Führer, either openly or
by tacit sabotage, and must now be brutally called to order. The

arrogance of the Wehrmacht, which so far has always tended to
hold aloof from the Party and the leadership of the State, must now
• See above pp. 103—4.
t As C-in-C 5 th Panzer Army, Manteuffel had taken part in the Ardennes offen-
sive. He was now moved to the Eastern Front.
128 13 MARCH 1945
be done away with in every respect. The Führer must insist on stern
conduct of the war in all fields if the people is to be saved. He is quite
right when he says that this way we shall emerge from this war
without a National-Sociahst Wehrmacht. But that is not the main
problem; in the forefront is the question how and whether we are to
emerge from this war at all.
The Führer wishes to make a renewed attempt to stabilise the
fronts. He hopes for some success in the U-boat war, particularly if
our new U-boats now come into action which for the moment they
have not yet done. What a difference between Dönitz and Goring!
Both have suffered a severe technical set-back in their arm of the
service.Goring resigned himself to it and so has gone to the dogs.
Dönitz has overcome it. This shows that set-backs need not be
catastrophic if the right conclusions are drawn from them. These
conclusions are what matter.
In our Wehrmacht the Army and even more the Luftwaffe are
extraordinarily vulnerable. There are few army organisations up to
the requirements of modern war. I tell the Führer about the inves-
tigation of the Personnel Section.* He is very pleased that General
Burgdorf 's shop is in order. On the other hand all I can tell about the
results of investigation into the Luftwaffe is deprecatory. The
Luftwaffe is one great scandal for the Party and the country as a
whole.
Once more this conversation ends with me asking the Führer
to act and to do something decisive to put matters in order again.
But for the moment there is nothing to be done with him in this
respect.
We
reminisce together for a long time. The sight of the Führer
is increasingly moving.
It is touching to see the innate resilience with
which, despite his severe physical disabilities, he takes a

grip of things over and over again and attempts to master the
situation.
Outside meanwhile the fire has been extinguished but the beauti-
ful building is totally destroyed. We now make a start with clearing
up. Our first thought is to clear the street and then make some
arrangement enabling me to work in the Ministry over the next few
days, since after all daily work must not suffer because the building
is in ruins.
Back at home I pass a somewhat melancholy evening. Slowly one
isbeginning to reahse what this war means for us all. Who would
have thought twelve years ago that my twelfth anniversary would
* See above 123.

p.
13 MARCH 1945 129
be spent such surroundings and under such circumstances. The

in
whole family shares my melancholy and mourning. We had all
taken the Ministry so much to our hearts.. Now it belongs to the
past. I am firmly determined, however, that when this war is over,
not only shall I construct a new monumental ministry — as the
Führer says - but restore this old Ministry in all its old glory.
(pp- 1-38)
Military Situation.
The situarion on the Eastern Front underwent no major change
yesterday. The main centres of fighting were in the Danzig and East
Prussian areas.
The bolshevists are now doing their utmost to clear the Danzig
and East Prussian areas. In the course of their major offensive in East
Prussia they were able to make deep penetrations at Lichtenfeld and
north-west of Zinten. The front maintained its cohesion however.
The violence of the fighting is shown by the fact that in this sector
alone 104 Soveit tanks were destroyed yesterday. Contact with
Königsberg has again been temporarily lost. Attacks made on
Danzig and Gotenhafen with armoured support were repulsed.
The Danzig—Gotenhafen bridgehead and the East Prussian theatre,
with which it is closely connected, have now been combined
into an Army Group under command of Colonel-General
Weiss.
In Courland enemy attacks were less violent; in fact all along the
Eastern Front, with the exception of the Danzig—East Prussian area,
Soviet attacks were less sustained than usual. Only at Kolberg did
the enemy attack fairly strongly yesterday. On the other hand his
attacks on the Oder front between Frankfurt and Küstrin and his
probings of our Stettin bridgehead were in reduced strength. In the
battle round Mährisch—Ostrau Soviet attacks between Bielitz and
Schwarzwasser were repulsed and the previous day's gains of
ground by the enemy were made good. No operations of special
importance took place in Silesia. In Hungary numerous attacks on
our new positions were driven off. In Slovakia the enemy managed
to move forward a httle closer to Altsohl.
On the Western Front only local actions took place, the main
centre of activity being in the Ru wer valley south of Trier. In this
area the Americans made some penetrations to a depth of 1-2 km in
14 MARCH 1945 131
upper reaches
battalion- and regimental-strength attacks against the
of the Ruwer.
On the Rhine front the only operations of importance were in the
Linz-Honnef bridgehead. In violent attacks the Americans pene-
trated somewhat farther north-east and east. Their attempts to
expand the bridgehead northwards and southwards were defeated.
The maximum depth of the bridgehead is now about 8 km.
On the Moselle front the enemy drove our outposts back onto the
right bank of the river at several points between Kochem and
Bemkastel. The bridge at Traben-Trarbach has been blown.
Fierce street fighting is taking place in Hagenau.
No fighting of importance on the ItaUan front.
On the Eastern Front there was sustained German air activity in
Hungary, where Soviet aircraft were shot down. The main
11
centre of our air activity in the West was the Linz area, where enemy
bridges, troop concentrations and movements were bombed.
Throughout the day there was lively enemy fighter-bomber and
fighter activity over the Western Front concentrated on Mün-
sterland, theRuhr and Rhine-Main areas. In addition 300 twin-
engined enemy aircraft were in action in the West.
American bomber formations were not in action over Reich
territory yesterday. Some 400 British four-engined bombers
attacked Wuppertal. About 500 American four-engined bombers
from Italy with an escort of 250 fighters made their main attack on
Regensburg. A smaller detachment dropped bombs in the Klagen-
furt and Landshut areas. Over southern and south-eastern Germany
there was much enemy fighter activity throughout the day. During
the night some 200 British four-engined bombers raided trans-
port targets in the Recklinghausen, Gelsenkirchen and Dortmund
areas. A harassing raid was made on Berlin by 80 Mosquitos. Two
Mosquitos were shot down by anti-aircraft.
Both confidential and official reports of planned enemy operations

in the West in the immediate future are very contradictory. Some
say that AUied troops must now halt and draw breath, others that
every effort will be made to force a crossing of the Rhine as soon as
possible. In general it is hoped that the latter will lead to a sen-
sational victory since it is maintained that we have no more reserves
available.The idea, therefore, is to strike while the iron is hot.
The capture of the Rhine bridge at Remagen by the Americans is
said to be due to sabotage and treachery. I also think that these
132 14 MARCH 194s
motives played it is barely com-

a significant role in all this, since
prehensible how so important a bridge could fall intact into enemy
hands when it had been fully prepared for demolition.
Grigg, the British War Minister, has been making extraordinarily
positive statements about England's immediate war prospects. He
is good enough to announce that there will be mass starvation in the
Reich. The only point of interest in his disquisition is that Britain is

still determined to participate in the Pacific war, provided of course
(in brackets) that Roosevelt will put up with them. In any case the
British now have to introduce further large-scale measures of con-
scription, which in the present critical state of British war-weariness
will certainly not be greeted with enthusiasm. It is stated that British
recruits will be trained on German soil for the next 25 years. The
British invariably draw-up large-scale plans for the next quarter- or
half-century. They have no sort of credibility, however, for the
British will probably have very Httle say in whatever may be
happening in Europe in 25 or 50 years' time.
The British Empire admits i ,043 ,000 men so far. This
to losing
looks a very high figure but it must be remembered that
at first sight
it includes wounded and prisoners. Anyway Britain has always
been good at allowing her allies and satellite peoples to shed their
blood for her.
As developments in the West are concerned London is again
far as
issuing warnings against exaggerated optimism. People no longer
think that the war will be over today or tomorrow. The Americans
have calculated that, taking East and West together, one- fifth of the
area of the 1939 Reich is now occupied. In itself that would not be so
bad, but the regions concerned are so vital for food and armaments
production that our percentage loss in potential is far higher.
In England the bishops are coming out increasingly strongly
against bolshevist high-handedness in Europe and also against the
Yalta decisions. Certain of our informers, who have so far been
accurate in their reporting, tell us that Churchill has lost a great deal
of popularity in recent weeks primarily because he has proved
incapable of directing the war into orderly channels and his poUcy
has resulted in producing total chaos in Europe. For the present this
chaos is almost more rampant in the countries occupied by England
or allied to her than on the territory of the German Reich. Definite
starvation is raging in France. The British quite calmly tell the
French that the food shortage will last until about July, in other
words until some of the new harvest is available. No food for the
French is available from British stocks, it is said, and the Americans
too are keeping their pockets shut.
14 MARCH 1945 133
There has been a certain revival of collaborationism in France.

Large numbers of Frenchmen are now listening to our radio broad-
casts, just asthey listened to the British broadcasts when we were in
occupation. To some extent the tables have been turned therefore.
Though one cannot expect much actual mihtary advantage from
this, this change of attitude among West European peoples is highly
symptomatic of developments we may anticipate in future.
Analmost grotesque impression is created by the news that the
Jews of Palestine have called a one-day strike to be spent in prayer
and that this strike is an expression of sympathy for the Jews of
Europe. The Jews are playing a wicked and thoughtless game. No
one can say with certainty which nations will be on the losing side
and which on the winning at the end of the war; but there can be no
doubt that the Jews will be the losers.
The question whether the Soviet Union will participate in the
Pacific war is still much debated. StaHn is said to be increasingly
taking the view that the Soviet Union cannot remain uninvolved
since she naturally has important interests to defend in East Asia as
well. On the other hand it is said that the Americans no longer set
much store by Soviet participation in the Pacific war.
Somewhat depressing news comes from Hungary. Our offensive
there seems not to be going to work. Our divisions have been halted
in front of Soviet defensive positions and are now facing serious
counter-attacks. One would think one was dealing with the devil.
None of our miUtary operations, however well prepared, have been
successful recently. Stalin's marshals have done an outstanding
military job and he has good reason to fete them like film stars.
Reports from Moscow tell of scenes reminiscent of the days of the
Pashas. Goring will undoubtedly be sorry that he cannot arrange for
similar celebrations in Germany.
Storm Having let down their iron
signals are visible over Finland.
curtain the Soviets are now at work bringing the country ruthlessly
under theirthumb. The Swedish stock exchange has tumbled as a
result. The Jews on the Swedish stock exchange are largely to blame
for this. Now that the worst is visible they are trying to present
themselves as innocent lambs.
In Rumania a definite struggle for power is going on between the
West and the Soviet Union. Western countries are trying to regain
contact with Rumania by diplomatic means and the Soviets are
moving heaven and earth to stop them. The Soviets cannot take too
stern measures, however, because they have not enough troops to
impose their poUtical will. Everything indicates that, in contrast to
us, the Soviets have all their military force in the shop window. We
134 14 MARCH 1945
needed 240,000 men to occupy Rumania whereas the Soviets, it }s

rehably reported, are making do with four NKVD divisions.
Moreover this is quite enough. In occupied countries we Germans
always made the mistake of trying to do everything ourselves. On
the one hand we used up too many troops for this purpose and on
the other we turned opinion in occupied countries against us.
Groza, the new Rumanian Minister-President, is an out-and-out
peasant communist. He is merely a wilHng tool of the Kremhn.
In northern Italy too opinion has now turned very much against
us. The Italians are doing another about-turn and starting to flirt
with France. Sympathy for the Latin sister has reawakened in Italy.
Even some of the fascists are making this about-turn. MussoHni has
not yet succeeded in finding a common denominator in fascist
pohcy.
Since it is impossible to work in the Ministry 1 have to hold all my
conferences at home. The Ministry looks like a desert. In the Private
Office most of the telephone wires have been cut. The Private
Office itself is a heap of ruins. Even doing my utmost to re-establish
working faciHties in the Ministry as quickly as possible, it will take a
few days.
Gauleiter Simon has sent Naumann, his deputy, to Berlin to
report to me on the situation in the Moselland Gau. He gives me
some information of interest but in general can tell me nothing new.
The fact that morale among the troops and the people has sunk very
low I know anyway. Naumann, however, protests energetically
that no cases have occurred of people trying to stop the troops
fighting. The hoisting of white flags was due to people's desire to
preserve their own houses undamaged during the fighting. No
active opposition to our conduct of the war has been reported. On
the other hand it must be reahsed that the population in the regions
now occupied or threatened by the enemy is sunk in lethargy and
looks upon the events of the war with apathy. This is primarily due
to the months of uninterrupted enemy air bombing.
Dr Ley also, who has just returned from his trip to the West, can
tellme nothing really new. Everything he reports I have known for
a long time. He hands me three memoranda, which he has sub-
mitted to the Führer, concerning reorganisation of the Wehrmacht.
They do not hold water. As the Führer has already told me, Dr Ley
is proposing that Commanders-in-Chief of Armies and Army
Groups should be given greater powers to comb rear Army areas. *

They already possess such powers if they wanted to use them.
* See above p. 127.

14 MARCH 1945 135.
Schörner, for instance, has already combed his rear Army area
whereas Manteuffel has not. The trouble is not with the powers but
with the gentlemen who do not use the powers available to them.
Ley's estimate of Model is somewhat derogatory. He has become
jumpy and nervous, Ley says, and the Gauleiter in the West do not
go much by him.
The report Ley gives me about the loss of Köln is shattering. The
City Commandant was changed three times in a single night. As
one can imagine, with such violent fluctuations in personnel poUcy,
defence of a city of this size was a total impossibility. The people of
Köln had fought well, or rather wanted to fight, but had Httle
opportunity of doing so.
After Ley, Speer arrives for an interview. He too has just returned
from the West and gives an even gloomier report. Speer's view is
that economically the war is more or less lost. At the present rate the
German economy can hold out for another four weeks and then it
will gradually disintegrate. Speer deplores the fact that he can get no
decisions on vital problems from the Führer. He thinks that, owing
to his physical disabihties, the Führer has become far less active.
Speer is right in his views about maintenance of the German
people's basis of existence. He is very much opposed to the
scorched-earth idea. He says that if the life-hnes of our food supply
and our economy are to be snapped, it is not for us but for our
enemies to do it. He is also opposed, therefore, to the demolition of
bridges and viaducts prepared in Berlin. If these are carried out, he
says, the Reich capital must quickly starve. I have already protested
energetically against these planned demolitions and have ordered
my military staff in Berlin to give me a report on the matter so that I
can possibly take steps to remedy the situation.
The reports both of Dr Ley and of Speer are extremely alarming. I
assume, however, that they are much influenced by what they have
seen in the West and cannot look at these matters from the necessary
distance, otherwise their accounts would probably be different
from what they actually are. At times like this it is essential to take
an adequately long-distance view of things. Looked at close to, the
impression they give is naturally terrible sometimes. War, of
course, has its heights and its depths and, when one is in the depths,
it is essential to keep a cool head and not to lose one's nerve. This I
learn yet again from a study of the Punic War by Professor Frank,
This study shows me what must be done in a critical phase of a war
and how one must sometimes accept defeat after defeat in order to
emerge victorious in the end. People do not talk of the Roman
virtues for nothing. They emerged most clearly during the Second
136 14 MARCH 1945
Punic War and are still an exampleto us today. As the Führer has so
often emphasised, must be our ambition that our era goes down in
it
the history of mankind as a period of glory and steadfastness equal

to, for instance, the Second Punic War or the Seven Years War. In
any case I refuse to be deterred by reports of so-called eye-
witnesses. There is no question of any doubt in my mind regarding
the possibility of victory for our cause; on the contrary the difficul-
ties which emerge again and again, almost daily and in increasing
weight, are there to be overcome if one really has the will to do so.
Moreover Dr Ley looks at things more through the spectacles of the
pure Party orator and Speer through those of the pure economist
and technician. Neither possesses a statesmanlike view of the
present war situation.
The Führer has decided that further evacuation is to take place in
the West; this decision will of course have enormous repercussions
since we have no idea where in the Reich we can accommodate
people evacuated from the West. In the Führer's view, however, the
main thing is not to let men fit for service fall into enemy hands.
What the poUtical implications of this are cannot be foreseen at
present. In Pomerania, for instance, 400,000 men who should have
been evacuated fell into Soviet hands. There is a pretty miserable
situation here which we cannot remedy. In Swinemünde in par-
ticular masses of men are assembUng and we can only feed and
clothe them for onward movement to a limited degree. In short we
have by no means got the better of the evacuation problem and
today it becomes even more acute. Things are somewhat better in
East Prussia; overcrowding in the Danzig-Gotenhafen area is
becoming that much worse however.
It is interesting, moreover, that although our propaganda has
been passing the word round for weeks, departures from Berlin are
few. Only some 2500-3000 people leave the capital daily. That is a
mere drop in the ocean. The Berliners apparently have such
confidence in our military capacity to resist that for the moment,
despite the continual enemy air raids, they feel happiest and safest in
their own city.
As far as the air war is concerned, so-called suicide attacks are
now to bemade on enemy bomber formations. The Führer has
agreed that some 300 suicide pilots, 95 % of whom will certainly
sacrifice themselves, should hurl themselves at the enemy bomber
formations, so that whatever happens each fighter will bring down
one enemy bomber. This plan was proposed months ago but unfor-
tunately did not get past Goring. There is no point even in talking
about the organisation and armament of the Luftwaffe; the cor-
14 MARCH 1945 137
ruption and disorganisation in this arm of the service cries to high

heaven.
A number of worrying problems now come before me in
vast
reports andmemoranda or are laid on my table. Sometimes one
wonders where on earth a way out of this terrible war dilemma is to
be found. In this critical time it is easy to judge a man's worth. There
are only a few who remain steadfast and cling without flinching to
our lofty purpose. They are the nation's true leading personalities.
This is what separates the wheat from the chaff.
This evening it is reported that the situation in the Remagen
bridgehead has worsened from our point of view^. The enemy has
succeeded in extending the bridgehead, though only to a small
degree. Nevertheless there is no longer any word of the necessity or
possibility of eliminating the bridgehead. Otherwise there has been
no great change in the West. Nevertheless the present period of
quiescence there is the calm before the storm.
Kesselring has taken up his command. I place some hope in him.
He is expert in the defence of apparently almost hopeless positions.
The Führer has sent me the shorthand records of his briefing
conferences during the critical days preceding the Soviet break-
through in Pomerania. These records spell out a real tragedy. Again
and again during these briefmg conferences the Führer pointed out
that the Soviets would advance on Pomerania and opposed the
opinion of the experts that they would move on Berlin. Unfor-
tunately he failed to follow up his conviction, which was based
more on intuition than on knowledge, with clear orders. As a result
everyone, including Himmler, did what he wished. These minutes
are a shining example of the inefficiency of our rniÜtary leadership.
The Führer perceives the right thing to do and imparts it to his
military staff but they draw no conclusions therefrom. What good
are these ideas, however, if they are not translated into reaUty. Ideas
become overlaid by the wisdom of the experts and have no practical
effect. Instead of making long speeches to his miHtary staff the
Führer would do better to issue them with brief orders and then act
brutally and energetically to ensure that these orders are carried out.
Erroneous methods of command and not erroneous ideas are there-
fore the main cause of the numerous defeats we have suffered on the
various fronts. Our General Staff officers thought that the Soviets
would make the same mistake as we made in late autumn 1941 with
our planned encirclement of Moscow, in other words that they
would barge on at the enemy capital without looking to right or left
and without covering their flanks. That was the costly trap into
which we fell. Again and again the Führer emphasised that the
138 14 MARCH 1945
Soviets would not make this mistake but his generals would not
believe him. Himmler allowed these generals to pull the wool over
his eyes and the Führer is not far wrong when he says that Himmler
must carry the guilt before history for the fact that Pomerania and
much of its population has fallen into Soviet hands.
There is already talk of heavy enemy
counter-attacks against our
offensive in Hungary. Anyway at the moment no
further forward
movement is reported. Both sides are regrouping. But one knows
what that means. News from the Schwarzwasser area, on the other
hand, is satisfactory. Schörner has again succeeded in beating off
extraordinarily strong Soviet attacks and in gaining some ground
by counter-attack. In Breslau there is relative calm for the first time
forweeks — very important for the fighting troops since now at last
they can get a Üttle sleep. In the Gotenhafen-East Prussian area the
enemy attacked in extraordinary strength but in general he was
repulsed.
In the evening we have yet another Mosquito raid on the capital
and shall soon be celebrating the Silver Jubilee of these attacks.
These Mosquito raids have now become so heavy that they are
almost comparable to one by a small force of heavy bombers. In any
case they give us a very great deal to do, particularly in the field of
transport. We have our hands full to keep the Berlin transport
system running even at half speed.
(pp. 1-32)
Military Situation.
The main centres of fighting were again in West and East Prussia
where the Soviets continued to attack Gotenhafen and Danzig in
strength. They reached the Gotenhafen—Zuckau railway line west
of Zoppot; farther north the enemy also scored a minor local
success, further reducing our position north of Putzig. All other
attacks were beaten off. The enemy made particularly sustained
efforts to sever our defence line in East Prussia. North-west of
Zinten he was able to advance about 3 km and reach the
Königsberg-Elbing autobahn. Our front still maintained its cohe-
sion. In all 88 Soviet tanks were destroyed yesterday. In Courland
enemy attacks in medium strength south of Frauenburg were
repulsed.
On the rest of the Eastern Front strong enemy attacks on the
Mährisch-Ostrau area are reported to have been repulsed once
more. Otherwise only local actions took place, in the course of
which we improved our positions at Striegau and south of Stettin.
The Frankfurt-Küstrin area was relatively quiet owing to the
enemy's severe from our artillery fire.
losses
In Hungary we widened our offensive front advancing between
Kaposvar and the western end of Lake Balaton; here we gained 3-4
km on a front of 20-30 km in heavily mined country; we formed a
bridgehead over the Sio and destroyed the last enemy bridgehead
over that river.
In Slovakia the enemy succeeded in capturing Altsohl.
Onthe Western Front the Americans continued their heavy
attacks in defence of their Linz bridgehead but without success; only
atHönningen were they able to gain a few kilometres of ground;
otherwise the situation remained unchanged. The bridgehead is
now 15-18 km long and up to 7 km deep.
The main centre of enemy activity was in the Moselle valley.
140 15 MARCH 1945
Here the Americans attacked between Aiken and Treis towards

Boppard. They succeeded in crossing the Moselle at several points
and advancing to within 6 km of Boppard. There was also violent
fighting between Kochern and Bernkastel. Our forces on the left
bank of the Moselle were driven back to the river at several points.
The enemy also attacked very heavily in the Ruwer valley where he
gained 2-3 km of ground. Our bridgehead on the left bank of the
Saar between Saarbrücken and VölkUngen was withdrawn. The
enemy followed up hard. Enemy pressure also increased north of
Saargemünd. Fierce street fighting is taking place in Hagenau.
Only local actions are reported from the Italian front.
On the Eastern Front our air forces were again particularly active
over Hungary. A total of 37 enemy aircraft were shot down by
fighters and anti-aircraft, including four bombers from Italy.
Breslau and Glogau were resupphed and wounded evacuated.
On the Western Front enemy fighter-bombers were again very
active. Some of our fighter formations were in action against low-
flying aircraft in the Remagen area.
Some 100 American four-engined bombers attacked transport
1
targets in the Hannover-Münster-Kassel area and also built-up

areas in Hannover, Hildesheim, Osnabrück and Hamelin. Smaller
formations raided Rotterdam. Some 150 British four-engined
bombers attacked various places in the Ruhr. 300 twin-engined
bombers attacked transport targets in the Limburg-Giessen-Siegen
area. About 500 American four-engined bombers attacked the
Wiener Neustadt-Graz-Klagenfurt area. Harassing raids at night
on Berlin and Wiesbaden. A British bomber formation of about 350
four-engined aircraft raided Homburg and Zweibrücken in der
Saarpfalz. Some 200 British bombers raided Leuna and Lützken-
dorf Night fighters and AA shot down 19 enemy aircraft.
The Remagen bridgehead is still there and the enemy has even
extended Our troops are putting up stiff resistance, however, as is

it.
reported even from London. The enemy is concentrating very

heavily in this area and is clearly planning an attempted break-out.
This may well take a few days however. In any case the Americans
are proceeding very systematically and are not allowing themselves
to be carried away by their impetuosity. As far as the bridgehead
concerned, we know all about such developments. We have
itself is
been through this often enough in the East to have no illusions
about it. If a bridgehead is once established and one is not strong
15 MARCH 1945 141
enough to eliminate it, it turns into a running sore and the poison
spreads to vital parts of the body. Nevertheless the Americans have
suffered very severe losses in this bridgehead which will perhaps
have a sobering effect on them. Severe manpower shortages are
reported on the Western Front as a whole and also in the Pacific
theatre so that they have had to institute fresh large-scale measures
of conscription.
Churchill is again facing a series of embarrassing questions in the
Commons. There were again a number of revoltingly hypocritical
expressions of the sympathy allegedly felt for the Dutch popu-
lation, though Britain is in no position to offer them even the
smallest assistance.
The situation in the enemy-occupied regions is becoming increas-
ingly menacing. Here is a great opportunity for us. Most important,
the British and Americans are unable to provide any food suppUes
for the regions theyoccupy and so there is a large measure of actual
starvation impossible to describe in detail. The Americans are no
longer in a position to divert supplies even to the British since they
need them themselves and are running into serious difficulties even
in their own country. It is announced from the White House that
food convoys to Britain must be discontinued for the next three
months. As a result the British government is compelled further to
reduce the ration, the effect of which in London is of course sen-
sational. It is clear that, whereas the military crisis is developing
greatly to our disfavour, the poUtical crisis is largely turning out to
the disfavour of our enemies. For this reason the British and Ameri-
cans are doing their utmost to bring the European war to a favour-
able conclusion from their point of view at the earUest possible
moment. They know that otherwise this part of the world will
simply be facing starvation and this they admit quite openly.
Part of the poHtical activity directed against us by our Western
enemies consists in the spreading of rumours, which recur almost
daily, concerning the alleged intention of the Reich to capitulate. It
is now being stated that last week Rundstedt offered to lay down
arms in the Netherlands which of course met with a generous

refusal from the British and Americans. As a result of these rumours
the USA is now in a deUrium of victory and so the old domestic
antagonisms are re-emerging in all their malignancy. The trade
unions are presenting the government with their bill. Wage rises arc
being demanded under threat of a general strike. In short the British
and American governments have quickly been given notice that
their premature trumpetings of victory have fallen on very fruitful
domestic poHtical ground and as a result the domestic opposition
142 15 MARCH 1945
cliques are beginning to stir. A general strike is now hanging over

the heads of the Anglo-American public Uke a sword of Damocles.
Things are not much better in England and one can understand why
the Daily Mail states in a melancholy article that the war must be
ended this summer or aU Europe will sink into chaos. We must take
every step, therefore, to prolong this war, cost what it may, and we
are going the best way about it.
The British Conservative Party is meeting for its Party Con-

ference in London. Nothing special is to be expected from this
gathering. Churchill is still absolutely the man of the moment.
Eden is facing embarrassing questions in the Commons about the
internal position in Rumania. He has had to admit that the Soviets
are stopping all news coming out of Rumania and that Radescu has
sought and been given asylum in the British Legation — from fear,
allegedly, of his domestic political opponents. Eden ascribes the
severance of communications with Rumania to military reasons,
which of course was greeted as a joke. Nevertheless developments
in Rumania have caused great embarrassment both to the Ameri-
cans and the British. The course of events is precisely similar to that
in Poland or that now gradually getting under way in Finland. In
any case the Anglo-Americans are quite clear that it is no good
monkeying with the Kremlin and that Stahn is exploiting his
momentary advantage. It is really comic to see the British news-
papers expressing their disappointment but invariably adding that
there is nothing whatsoever to be done against the Kremlin's
insolence and presumption.
For the first time the "Free Germany" Committee* has appeared
on the scene once more, this time with a call to the people of Berlin.
It is having no effect whatsoever since the people are taking not the
smallest notice of it. It shows, however, that the Committee's duties

are exclusively of a propaganda nature and it is significant that
German generals with famous names should make themselves
available for this.
A General Staff publication containing curricula vitae and photo-
graphs of Soviet generals and marshals is submitted to me. From
this book it is easy to deduce various matters on which we have been
mistaken in previous years. On average these Marshals and Gen-
erals are extraordinarily young, hardly any of them over the age of
50. Their background is one of productive poUtical revolutionary
activity; they are convinced bolshcvists and extraordinarily energe-
tic men; one can see from their faces that they are carved from good
• i.e. the Seydlitz Committee.

15 MARCH 1945 143
popular timber. They are mostly sons of workers, cobblers, small-

holders, etc. In short one is forced to the painful conclusion that the
Soviet military leaders come of a better background than do our
own.
armistice terms for Italy have been leaked. They prescribe
The
that Italymust bear the whole cost of enemy occupation, must
make four milHon workers available for compulsory deportation to
enemy countries, in other words to the Soviet Union. She must
renounce all her African possessions and accept considerable ces-
sions of territory at home. In short this is an interim bill which
imphes the Uquidation of Italy as a great power. It must be remem-
bered, moreover, that this is only an armistice agreement. For the
moment there is no word of what will be extorted from Italy in a
peace treaty.
There have been further heavy air raids, this time on Münster,
Hamm and Wuppertal. Every day one wonders fruitlessly where all
this will lead. Our armaments potential and transport system are
being battered to such an extent that it is easy to calculate when the
time will arrive when we shall, so to speak, be standing in a void. It
is crippling that - as Gauleiter Hoffmann* points out in a report
—
we no longer possess any air defence whatsoever. Our fighters do
not take off and our anti-aircraft has been largely withdrawn for the
front. Not only our miUtary reverses but also the severe drop in the
German people's morale, neither of which can now be overlooked,
are primarily due to the unrestricted enemy air superiority.
Hoffmann thinks that it should be possible to cope with the trans-
port damage in the comparatively short term but that the damage to
morale will be very difficult to repair. Above all the morale of the
troops has been severely affected. This is evidenced not by any
revolutionary symptoms but by the general attitude of lethargy
now prevalent among both officers and men. To a certain extent the
same must be said of the civil population.
The long-range repercussions of air-raid alerts are noticeable in
Berhn. At midday we sat in our air-raid shelters for two hours
because Oranienburg and Zossen were being bombed. Contrary to
what we feared, not much happened over Berlin.
I am getting reports of sinking morale from the Moselle country
as well. These also point out that there is no question of active

opposition but they say that the people must be given some positive
arguments about our prospects of victory if they are to believe in
victory at all,
• Gauleiter of Westphalia South.

144 15 MARCH 1945
Simon* requests me in a letter to carry on systematic propaganda

to the troops. Unfortunately propaganda to the troops has so far
been the business of the Press Section [WPR] in OKW; naturally,
however, I cannot wait for the corpulent generals and colonels of
WPR to bestir themselves. Moreover they understand nothing of
this business. I am accordingly appointing General Commissioners
for the Eastern and Western Fronts; they will be directly sub-
ordinate to me and will go forthwith to the areas concerned with
authority to give instructions to Propaganda Companies and Reich
Propaganda Offices for propaganda within the Wehrmacht. I hope
that this will reUeve the situation considerably. In any case I intend
to appoint outstandingly qualified persons to both these posts.
At midday I have the propaganda staff of the Ministry and the
Reich Propaganda Service in my office — in particular Wächter,
Borcke, Draeger and Krämer - and I give them a fairly long lecture
about our new propaganda tasks. I emphasise primarily that there
must be more low-level work, more improvisation and more sys-
tem in setting the objectives of our work. Our propaganda agencies
rely too much on the official machine, which still provides them
with adequate funds and freedom of movement; as a result our
propaganda relies too much on posters and is addressed to the
masses rather than the individual. This must cease forthwith. Our
propaganda must resemble that of the best period of our struggle
for power. At that time we had Uttle money and few men with
which to carry on propaganda. Nevertheless it was masterly and
ultimately led to victory.
In passing it is worth noting that Reich Minister Rosenbergt still
refuses to disband the Ministry for the East. Admittedly he no
longer calls it the Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories
since the effect ofthat would be too ludicrous; it is merely "Minis-
try for the East". He
wants to concentrate all our eastern poHcy in
this Ministry. I might just as well set up a ministry for the West or
the South. It is sheer nonsense. Rosenberg is simply clinging on for
prestige purposes and refuses to be convinced by me that his Minis-
try has long since become superfluous. A decision will therefore
have to be obtained from the Führer on this.
No major change in the West is reported this evening. That is bad
in so far as it impUes that we have made no progress in the Linz
bridgehead; on the contrary the Americans have gained some
ground and are now pushing out towards the Frankfurt autobahn.
* See above pp. 114-$.
t The mystical ideologue of the Nazi Party who had been appointed (since he was a
Bait, bom a Russian subject) Minister for the Occupied Countries in the East.
15 MARCH 1945 14s
They are still 2 km from it. If they reach it, that will be very
dangerous. We are moving up fresh units in however. A
this area
major enemy offensive has opened in the Moselle-Ruwer area.
There are as yet no reports of its success. The Führer's headquarters
hopes that we can cope with it. But one knows that tale. So far
that has always been said prior to an enemy offensive and after-
wards we have had to sing small.
In Hungary unfortunately only local successes can be recorded.
There is no longer any question of a headlong advance. On the
contrary 6 Panzer Army has now gone on to the defensive. The
enemy made no progress at Schwarzwasser despite massive attacks
— undoubtedly due to Schörner. Further enemy penetrations are
reported from East Prussia; in Breslau savage fighting fluctuates
from one quarter of the city to another. In Gotenhafen two enemy
attacks were beaten off but, according to information from Army
headquarters there, only by using our last reserves.
When returning to the Führer the minutes of the briefmg con-
ference on the Pomeranian affair I included in the folder a hand-
written note as follows: "It can be seen from these minutes how
right the Führer was. But it is shattering to note that not only did the
Führer's military advisers fail to understand him but that they
systematically contravened his clear categorical orders. How
can I
still have confidence in such miUtary advisers! In my view here Hes
the root of all our failures." As a result of this note the Führer
telephones me in the evening. We first have a short talk about the air
war and then the conversation turns to the minutes he had given me.
I give totally frank expression to my dismay on reading them. The
Führer gives me certain explanations as to how this situation could

have arisen and adds that it was precisely the same in the cases of
Moscow and Stalingrad. He had perceived what was right but his
military staff had let him down. His intuitive perception had
invariably been shouted down by the specialist know-alls and this is
largely the cause of our defeats. Now, however, he proposes to act
energetically and even brutally. He will not tolerate any more of this
behaviour seeing that it has led to such disastrous results. In the
Remagen bridge case, for instance, four death sentences have
already been pronounced and carried out. Himmler had been with
him in the afternoon and he had given him an extraordinarily severe
dressing down. I tell the Führer about my perusal of the General
Staff publication on Soviet Marshals and Generals and add that I
gained the impression that we are totally unable to compete with
such a method of selection of commanders. The Führer shares my
view entirely. Our generals are too old and worn out and they are
146 15 MARCH 1945
complete aliens to our National-Socialist ways of thought and

behaviour. Many of our generals do not even want a National-
Socialist victory. Soviet generals, on the other hand, are fanatical
adherents of bolshevism and so they fight fanatically for its victory,
which naturally endows them with vast superiority. The Führer is
determined, even while the war goes on, so to reform the
Wehrmacht that it emerge from the war fundamentally
will
National-Socialist in outlook and bearing. I add that although we
Germans may learn things very late, we do so that much more

thoroughly. It may be assumed that perhaps this will be the case
now^.
I have received reports from Captain Krüger, National-Socialist
Leadership Officer with Ninth Army, concerning the Führer's visit

to the Oder front. This visit was a brilliant success. The Führer
showed himself vastly superior to the generals not only in know-
ledge but also in ideas and aroused the greatest admiration. His
physical state produced a certain- dismay. On this subject the gen-
erals said quite frankly that the 20 July putschists were to blame for
the Führer's nervous twitch and that they should be dug up out of
their graves and torn to pieces.
In the evening we have the usual Mosquito alert. This happens
every evening with stereotyped regularity. The millions in the
Reich capital are gradually becoming somewhat nervous and hys-
terical. This is understandable too when people have to spend every
evening in the air-raid shelters under such primitive conditions. It is
a torture which overstrains the nerves in the long run, particularly
when people are firmly convinced that for the present no end to
these nightly raids is in sight.
FRIDAY i6 MARCH 1945
(pp. 1-34)
Military Situation.
In the East the Sovietshave gone over to the attack in strength in the
areas of Mährisch-Ostrau, south of Breslau and at Stettin.
In the Mährisch-Ostrau area the offensive front is still between
Bielitz and Pawlowitz; the Soviets have also gone over to the attack
north of Ratibor. The enemy penetrated to a depth of 5-6 km
towards Oderberg. All other attacks were repulsed with very heavy
loss to the enemy. In the Mährisch-Ostrau area strong counter-
measures are being taken. South of Brieg the enemy moved for-
ward from the Grottkau area towards Neisse. He succeeded in
making several deep penetrations in bitter fighting during which he
suffered heavy casualties. Here again strong German counter-
measures are in progress. Simultaneously violent attacks on Breslau
failed apart from one break-in in the south of the city. The garrison
of Glogau also beat off heavy attacks from the south.
Only local actions took place on the Neisse and Oder fronts. A
minor attack on Fürstenberg was repulsed and the enemy driven
back by counter-attack. At Lebus too there was no change in the
situation.
The enemy made heavy attacks on our positions on the cast bank
of the Oder opposite Stettin. He reached the Greifenhagen-Stettin
railway and pushed on south-east of Stettin across the autobahn as
far as the eastern branch of the Oder. All other attacks, in particular
those cast of Stettin, were repulsed. We are putting up a very stern
defence at this point. A total of 77 Soviet tanks were destroyed in
this sector alone. An enemy attempt to cross the Dievenow was
defeated; detachments which had forced their way across the river
were thrown back by counter-attack. The enemy has forced his
way into Kolberg and fierce street fighting has flared up. By the
day before yesterday a total of 40,000 out of the 50,000 refugees
assembled in Kolberg had been evacuated.
148 l6 MARCH 1945
Owing to a communications break-down there is as yet no news

from Army Group North (Danzig-Königsberg area).
Only local actions took place in Courland.
In the West the enemy has now gone over to the attack in the
sector between Saarbrücken and Hagenau in addition to the pre-
vious flashpoints-the Linz bridgehead and the Kassel and Ruwer
fronts. His objective is undoubtedly to drive in our front on the Saar
and capture the entire region south of the Moselle and west of the
Rhine.
In the Linz bridgehead the enemy succeeded in penetrating east-
wards from Honnef as far as Agidienberg and so reaching the
autobahn. Our resistance here is very stiff and the enemy has
suffered extraordinarily severe casualties. He made no progress at
other points in the bridgehead.
On the Moselle between Alten and Treis, where the enemy had
crossed the river on the previous day and advanced towards Bop-
pard, he has now swung south and is about 6 km south of the
Moselle.
In the upper Ruwer valley the enemy attacked in greater strength
and succeeded in advancing 5— 6 km farther east. Fighting is now
going on some 7-8 km east of the Ruwer valley around Weis-
kirchen and north thereof Between Saarbrücken and Hagenau the
enemy gained several kilometres of ground north of Saargemünd,
as he did between Saargemünd and Bitsch. Bitsch itself is stul in our
hands. Fighting is taking place in an area some 5 km west and
south-west of Bitsch; in the Reichshofen-Hagenau sector the
enemy scored only minor local successes.
Nothing special reported from the ItaHan front.
Our fighters shot down 30 Soviet aircraft over the area of the
Eastern Front.
In the Western Front zone there was lively enemy fighter-
bomber and twin-engined bomber activity directed mainly on the
Rhine-Main area.
Some 1200 American four-engined bombers with strong fighter
escort (750 fighters) flew over Reich territory; they attacked mainly
industrial and transport targets and railway installations in the
neighbourhood of Berlin. Some 300 British bombers with fighter
escort attacked industrial and transport targets in Dortmund. Some
600 American four-engined bombers from Italy attacked Schwarz-
heide, the Senftenberg area, Vienna, Wiener-Neustadt and Moos-
bierbaum. A total of 7 aircraft were shot down by our fighters and
anti-aircraft.
After dark some 200 British four-engined bombers attacked
I6 MARCH 1945 149
Hjgen and another 250 Hannover. During the night harassing raids
were made by 30 Mosquitos on Münster and 60 on Berhn. Our
anti-aircraft and 50 of our night fighters shot down 16 enemy
aircraft.
* • * •
The situation in the enemy-occupied areas on the left of the Rhine

seems very miserable. The enemy press, for instance, refers to
extraordinarily wretched conditions in Köln. The population is
sunk in total apathy. Starvation is already raging in the city and
epidemics are following in its wake. I think developments will
become even more catastrophic, for the British and Americans have
no thought in their minds of giving any form of assistance to the
Germans who have remained behind. They must now pay dearly
for their failure to obey our evacuation instructions.
Churchill, the British Prime Minister, is totally unmoved by all
this misery. His speech to the British Conservative Party Con-
ference was one of almost unsurpassed gloom. Churchill has sel-
dom spoken in such tones. He attacked the domestic opposition to
his policy which is becoming increasingly noticeable, accused it of
being anti-national and proclaimed his determination to pursue the
war in Europe whatever happened, even if it should lead to total
chaos. He demanded unconditional surrender from the Reich even
if it had to go down in chaos and ruin. In itself this demand may do
us some good. But we protest energetically that the press should
now accuse us of all people of being anarchists who have plunged
Europe into this fearful disaster. This is the well-known method of
blaming the murdered man rather than the murderer.
Churchill is convinced, moreover, that peace will come soon but
that then a long and difficult war with Japan is pending. The
Western Allies are in the greatest distress over shortage of transport.
It will mean that after the war there will be definite famine in almost
all parts of the world lasting several years. But this naturally does
not interest Churchill in the least. He will presumably always be

able to eat his fill. All that matters to him is victory, or what the
British call victory, in Europe and the destruction of the Reich. The
effect of this speech on the British public can be imagined. The
Daily Mail calls it a definite Dunkirk speech, which in fact it is. In the
fieldof war policy Churchill has suffered nothing but defeats. He
was forced to admit this quite openly when answering a question in
the Commons; he stated that at Yalta a distinction had in fact been
made between the great nations and the small ones that the great
I50 l6 MARCH 1945
nations, in other words the victor nations as Churchill called them,

had laid claim to all prerogatives, the small nations on the other
hand simply had to do their duty devotedly and obsequiously. In
terms of the Yalta decisions only a small country will be regarded as
an aggressor country in future; the large countries are too moral to
be aggressors. In any case they propose to gorge themselves so full
during this war that for the time being they will have no appetite for
any more. The idea is totally grotesque that the Soviet Union might
be attacked by Sweden, for instance, or Britain by Switzerland and
that then the Soviet Union, the USA and Britain would have to
meet in order to declare that Sweden or Switzerland were aggressor
countries. This nonsense has, of course, been thought up by Stalin.
It can only be to his advantage since it gives him an alibi for any
arbitrary action against small neutral countries. In this question

Britain and the USA have had to bow before him. To remon-
strances on the subject Churchill repUes with a shrug of the
shoulders and something on the lines of: "What is one to do? We
are, after all, totally powerless."
The entireworld is full of armistice rumours. It is stated that
Rundstedt sent a flag of truce with an offer to lay down arms. This
rumour is complete nonsense. It was denied from Washington 24
hours later, moreover. Nevertheless it resulted in active speculation
on a fall on the New York stock exchange. Moreover it has pro-
duced a sort of victory delirium in the USA which has already had
serious domestic political repercussions.
On the other hand these rumours also originate from the mission
of Hesse,* one of Ribbentrop's staff, to Stockholm. The purpose of
this mission was simply to gain some form of contact with the
opposing party in the West. This approach is now being blown up
into something sensational by Stockholm and London. One can
imagine how headlines in the entire world press have bounded upon
it. The really grotesque feature of this news coverage is that
Himmler, not the Führer, is presented as the guarantor of peace for
Germany. A powerful German clique is said to have offered the
Führer's head as surety. Not a word of this is true, of course. All this
has been cooked up by the British themselves. To this they reply
that they require many other heads as well as that of the Führer. In
London people pretend to be entirely uninterested in all this. The
neutral world — primarily the neutral business world — however is
* Fritz Hesse was an official of the Foreign Office who, before the war, had been
head of the German Information Office (DNB) in London, and had acted as
Ribbentrop's confidential agent there. For his own account see his book, Hitler and
England (1954).
l6 MARCH 1945 151
very volatile since it thinks that here may lie a loophole to escape
from the war and so from the threat of bolshevism. It might be that
such a development might lead to something if our troops can hold
at least the Rhine-Moselle front. At the moment, however, at least
Moselle is concerned, that is not the case. For the present
as far as the
the heavy losses being suffered by the enemy offer us the only
military chance. The Americans now estimate theirs at 839,000
men. Admittedly that figure is not particularly large for the present
war but it may have a certain significance for the USA.
The British are now slowly beginning to revive the economy in
the Allied-occupied zones. They propose to import German coal
into England and export British coal abroad in return. They have
planned Germany's subjugation with an eye to feathering their own
nest and are very put out that the Americans and Soviets should be
competing with them in this.
The Soviets no longer take any notice of British public opinion.
They are now proceeding to make mass arrests in Poland; they are
attacking the Turks over the Dardanelles question and using the
prevalent chaos in France to provoke unrest. This chaos is now
manifesting itself in food riots, highway robbery and increasing
profiteering, in short in symptoms of disease too serious to be
disregarded. In addition there are the developments in Rumania
where the Soviets are industriously at work arousing the greatest
suspicion, but nothing more, in London.
At midday I have a great reception in my house for home jour-
nalists, radio announcers and propagandists working in Berlin. I
address them for I2 hours on the present war situation and the
conclusions to be drawn therefrom for the conduct of news and
propaganda policy. I felt that I was in good form and gave these
gentlemen certain pointers for their work. In any case this reception
will assuredly have a good effect on the German press and radio.
During the last 24 hours the most savage air raids have taken place
on German territory. Among other places OKH
[Army HQ] in
Zossen was more or less demolished. But we will not take that too
much to heart. In Essen the situation is so bad that there is a great
bread shortage and violent complaints on the subject are coming
from the Gau WestphaUa South. We must move in central govern-
ment assistance but our stocks of flour are insufficient for action on
a large scale. It is bad that we are now getting practically no news
from bombed cities. Telephone communications are totally severed
and we have to rely solely on radio. But we must keep going
nevertheless.
Part of Ellgering's office has been forced to move to central
152 l6 MARCH 1945
Germany since it was almost impossible for it to work in Berlin.

Ellgering himself, however, is to keep his office in Wannsee for the
present.
In a memorandum work I out a proposal for a major reduction of
the Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe is now trailing around with it an
administrative and personnel organisation far larger than is justified
by its present duties and potentiaUties. We must now start more or
less from scratch with the Luftwaffe and screw down its organ-
isation and personnel machine to a size commensurate with its
remaining potentialities. Looked at objectively the situation is
somewhat as follows:
The Luftwaffe will have a total of 30,000 tons of petrol available by
the end of the month. Part of this is kept as an emergency reserve.
Major fresh allocations of petrol are not expected before autumn.
L%itil then no petrol-engined aircraft can take off from now on —
apart from supply transports. In view of the petrol situation all
types of aircraft hitherto in use are being deleted from the arma-
ments programme except for the following: (i) the Me 262 jet
fighter equipped with four 3 cm guns: (ii) the He 162 (still untested):
(iii) the Ta 152 single-seater fighter: (iv) the Arado 234: (v) theju 88
in night fighter role. In recent weeks losses in fighters shot down by

the enemy have reached 60 %. Over the next few months the aircraft
programme should produce (monthly): (i) 1000 Me 262s with a
reserve of 500 and a front-line establishment of 800: (ii) 500 He 162s
with a reserve of 1000: (iii) 500 Ta 152s: (iv) 80-100 Arado 234s: (v)
50 Ju 88s. According to a Führer decision production is to be
concentrated on the Me 262; this can stay in the air for 70 minutes
and uses a sort of diesel oil of which 44,000 tons are available and
this level of stock can be maintained. Reich Minister Speer will do
his utmost to give all priority to the Me 262. Series production is so
far advanced that a major attack on enemy incursions can begin in
two to three months' time. Sorties flown so far justify the assump-
tion that the casualty rate will be 5: i in our favour. In a recent action
by 2;i Me 262s seven bombers were shot down for certain and four
more bombers and four fighters were probables for the loss of only
one of our aircraft. A Mosquito will be simply torn apart by a hit
from an Me 262. Four hits finish off a bomber. After one month of
fighting on these terms Anglo-Saxon losses in the air will inevitably
have become so grievous that they will reduce their air raids. To
meet the Me 262 programme Reich Minister Speer has ordered
concentration of all resources - transport capacity and labour - on
the Me 262. The armaments industry can supply parts without
difficulty. The design of runways, not using concrete but making
l6 MARCH 1945 153
use of autobahns, has begun. Aircraft are concealed in woods in

dispersal points with earth protection and makeshift head cover so
that even area bombing will not affect them on a large scale.
Engineer General Mahnke is keeping an eye on the stock potential.
It will take the enemy two years to copy the Me 262. Six special
commissioners, including Dr Degenkolb, are employed in super-
vising the Me 262 programme. The most experienced generals have
been given charge of Me 262 operations: (i) General Kammhuber
(night fighters): (ü) General Pelz (fighters). The unsolved problem
is rapidity of movement of aircraft from dispersal point to runway
(10 minutes towed, i hour manhandled). The problem is still being

worked on. As personnel reserve the Me 262 programme requires
all 20,000 trained air force cadets who are now being used as a Rail
Transport Defence Brigade.

This holds out some prospect for the immediate future. Too
much hope should not be placed in it, however, for re-
establishment of a German defence capability in the air has been
promised so often and this promise has been broken so often that
one would prefer to see some results first before considering the
promise a real one.
arms of the service we are continually
In investigating individual
coming across fresh subterfuges employed by headquarters at home
to evade the combing-out process by the Staff for Total War. It is
extremely difficult to get men who are fit for service and have been
up to the front. We shall have to
released, actually into barracks or
use fairly rough and ready methods if we are to succeed. The leader
in this passive resistance is the Luftwaffe. Various army head-
quarters are not far behind in this respect, however. On my instruc-
tions General von Gottberg is now ruthlessly enroUing on the spot
those men who have been released and despatching them in short
order to the front where they belong.
Mail received testifies to a deep-seated lethargy throughout the
German people degenerating almost into hopelessness. There is
very sharp criticism of the Luftwaffe but also of the entire national
leadership. The latter is accused of being over-ambitious in its
pohcy and strategy, of having been neghgent in its conduct of the
war, particularly in the air, and this is given as the main reason for
our misfortunes. As far as the accusation of intemperance is con-
cerned, this is appUed particularly to our conduct of the eastern
campaign and it is not altogether unjustified. Our speakers at meet-

ings are no longer really getting their points home. Arguments
relying solely on historical examples are no longer persuasive. My
last radio speech has had a mixed reception. In some cases it is given
154 I^ MARCH 1945
the highest praise but in others it is criticised for failing to provide

positive data holding out hope of successful prosecution of the war
in future. One has the dull foreboding that even the best arguments
can no longer make an impact on a people that is worn out and
fought to a standstill.
In a leading article headed "History as Teacher" I seize the
opportunity, by citing historical examples in detail, to point out the
force of history as leading to conclusions appUcable to our present
time. I hope that I shall succeed but I reahse that at the present time
only a victory can be really convincing. Everything else goes in at
one ear and out at the other with these people.
This evening it is reported that our front in the Saar region and at
Bitsch has held firm by and large. The Moselle front, on the other
hand, is slowly giving way. Here the enemy has reached a point
north of Saarbrücken so that the town is now in danger of en-
circlement from the rear. On our side everything possible is being
done to counter this threat. Kesselring was with the Führer again
and was given precise instructions by him. This is a critical
development and it is hoped to master the situation but I am
somewhat sceptical about it. I have so often heard hopes expressed
and have so often found that these hopes have come to nothing two
or three days later that I now prefer to wait for actual happenings
before forming a definitive judgement.
Soviet offensive activity has flared up again all along the Eastern
Front. West of Lake Valencze the enemy made very strong diver-
sionary attacks which, however, were held by and large. Our
bridgehead over the Sio has been extended. It is intended shortly to
go over to the offensive again. The enemy succeeded in making
some penetrations at Grottkau. This is a first-class major offensive
at this point but Schörner is still convinced that he can deal with it
The offensive is aimed at the Mährisch-Ostrau coal-mining and
industrial area which we must not lose in any circumstances.
Counter-attacks are in progress in this area and one must wait and
see whether they succeed. Communications with Küstrin are-cut
but it is hoped to re-establish them. In Kolberg the final battles are
apparently taking place. Our men are no longer in a position to offer
co-ordinated resistance to the enemy. The Soviets have attempted
to push forward to Zoppot but without success. The situation in
East Prussia is that the enemy has made deep penetrations but no
break-through. Everywhere the fighting, both offensive and defen-
sive, is extraordinarily severe and everything is again on a knife-
edge all along the Eastern Front.
This evening reports of German peace proposals, both from
l6 MARCH 1945 155
neutral and enemy more numerous. They now

sources, are even
occupy the headHnes almost every newspaper in the world.
in
London is protesting emphatically that our feelers have not been
taken seriously. As soon as Hesse's mission became known the
USA and the Soviet Union were informed of the talks forthwith. It
is regarded as an obvious attempt to fish in troubled waters and split
the enemy coaHtion. In London the attempt has been met with a flat
rejection, whereas the other enemy allies have said nothing. This
rejection was, of course, to be expected from the British. Reuters
state that the German proposals have been totally ignored. The
difficult problem now arises how the Führer is to be told of this; he
was always extraordinarily sceptical of this attempt and once again
he has been proved right. I too think that the attempt was not made
very adroitly or it would certainly have had different and less
reverberating reactions. Moreover my view is that the British will
very soon stop peddHng this news round because they must be
afraid that their own people may start taking a more positive
interest in it.
My speech to journalists has had a very profound effect. This

instance shows yet again that if one talks in the right vein to people
who are politically conscious and have an insight into things, one
finds the way to their hearts and their minds. I shall now repeat such
receptions often.
In the evening we have the regular Mosquito raid on the capital;
these raids have now become an almost daily regular occurrence.
(pp. 1-24)
Military Situation.
On the Eastern Front the main centre of fighting was the area east
and north of Mährisch-Ostrau where the enemy threw very large
tank formations into battle. During the fighting between Bielitz and
Cosel and north of Neisse 239 Soviet tanks were destroyed during
this day alone. In the area between Bielitz, Schwarzheide and Paw-
lowitz all attacks were repulsed and most minor penetrations elimi-
nated by counter-attack. South of Cosel the enemy succeeded in
making minor penetrations to a depth of 3 -4 km but these were
scaled off at once. Between Glogau and Ncissc the bolshcvists
gained some ground and advanced to a point 10 km north of Neisse.
Here too most of the penetrations were immediately dealt with by
counter-attack. Attacks in battalion strength on Breslau and Glogau
were all repulsed. No special actions took place on the adjoining
front as far as Stettin. Enemy attacks on the Stettin bridgehead were
somewhat reduced in violence. On the other hand our Hnes were
subjected to heavy Soviet artillery fire which caused not incon-
siderable casualties. Several commanders and senior officers were
killed. The enemy attacks did not penetrate however. Only at
Greifenberg was he able to achieve a small local break-in. South-
east of Stettin the bolshcvists were driven back a little by counter-
attack. In Kolberg the garrison is defending itself in the port area.
Again no further news of Army Group North (Danzig-Kolberg)
owing to damage to communications. On the previous day the
enemy had again been driven back a little in severe fighting near
Gotenhafen but the East Prussian bridgehead was further com-
pressed. Severe fighting will have gone on yesterday.
In Courland there was local fighting only.
In Hungary our offensive gained some 2—3 km of ground on a
broad front between the western tip of Lake Balaton and Kaposvar;
in other sectors of the offensive — particularly in the Stuhlweis-
senburg area - the enemy put in strong counter-attacks, mainly
17 MARCH 1945 157
with infantry. All attacks were repulsed apart from a break-in

between Stuhlweissenburg and Felsögalla.
On the Western Front the Americans succeeded in capturing the
Moselle heights between Aiken and Treis; from here strong
armoured forces pushed south through Simmern, Bad Kreuznach
and Hochstetten (along the Kreuznach-Kaiserslautern road). Mili-
tary headquarters ascribe the success of this deep break through our
lines to excessive fatigue on the part of the German defensive forces,
which are in no great strength, and to the surprise factor.
At the same time the enemy attacked in the upper Ruwer valley
east of the river in a westerly direction and achieved a break-
through 1 5-20 km in depth, bringing him to Rheinsfeld and Her-
meskeU. Farther south leading enemy troops reached a point about
6 km south-west of HermeskeiL Enemy attacks between Saar-
brücken and the Rhine were in general repulsed apart from minor
penetrations. Bitsch fell into enemy hands. The enemy reached the
old German 5-6 km north-east of Bitsch.
frontier
In the Linz bridgehead the enemy moved north from Honnef and
captured the Drachenfels. In the south he succeeded in extending his
bridgehead some 2—^ km towards Waldbreitbach.
No special action took place on the ItaUan front.
German air forces were fairly heavily in action in the East yes-
terday. They shot down 31 Soviet aircraft and also destroyed
numerous tanks, assault guns and columns of troops.
On the Western Front there was again lively enemy fighter-
bomber activity centred on the Moselle, Palatinate and central
Rhine areas. In the Koblenz-Kochem and Bingen areas 112 German
fighters were in action against enemy low-flying aircraft and shot
down 4 of them.
American bomber formations were not in action over western
Germany yesterday.
Some 350 American four-engincd bombers from Italy raided
transport installations in Vienna, Korneuburg, Moosbierbaum and
Wiener-Ncustadt; detached formations attacked Klagenfurt, Graz,
Amstetten and St Valentin. Anti-aircraft shot down 13 enemy.
During the night a strong British air formation of some 450
bombers attacked Nuremberg with 250 aircraft and Würzburg with
200. The usual harassing raid was made on Berlin in the evening. 42
night fighters were in action against the British four-engined for-
mation and shot down 42 aircraft. Five other bombers were shot
down by anti-aircraft.
158 17 MARCH 1945
Herr von Ribbentrop's peace soundings have been a total failure.

They have met with an unequivocal rejection from both the Ameri-
cans and the British. Moreover they were very badly arranged, A
man like Hesse is not suited to explain National-Socialist views to
the enemy. Even in the friendly disposed neutral press he is
described as a German philistine who advocated war with England
during our prosperous days and so is regarded as Public Enemy No.
I by British diplomacy. No wonder, therefore, that in the neutral
press his attempt was described as hopeless from the outset. This is
therefore simply a mishandled escapade by Ribbentrop; anyone
could have foreseen with certainty that this was where it would
lead.
On the other hand it is significant that the British have said very
little about the Hesse mission. Obviously they are afraid
in public
too many peace rumours at this stage of the war, the
that, if there are
effect on pubhc opinion might be very detrimental. Despite the
military victories being won by the Anglo-Americans the British
people are extraordinarily war-weary and the fact is that, if there is
too much peace talk at the height of the war, it will gradually
become infectious.
There can be no doubt that Hesse's soundings met with a flat
rejection from the entire enemy camp. On the other hand the
British realise that hopes of an internal German revolution against
National-Socialism or the Führer personally are illusory. In
America the widespread rumours of capitulation are described as
definite stock exchange manoeuvres. The Jews of New York, there-
fore, are at present openly speculating on a fall in order to buy war
and armaments stock as cheaply as possible.
Roosevelt too has been compelled to issue a denial of the capitu-
lation rumours connected with the person of von Rundstedt; he was
afraid they would lead to undesirable repercussions on American
industry.
Mihtary developments in the West are most unfortunate. A
pretty miserable situation has arisen in the Moselle area. The Führer
had thought that the Moselle could be held as a defence line but the
idea has proved invaHd. The Americans have succeeded in crossing
the Moselle on a broad front and now they are flooding into the
region between the Moselle and the Rhine without meeting any
resistance worth the name. Naturally our Saar front is most seri-
ously threatened as a result. This has so far held and the Siegfried
Line has been defended with the utmost valour but there is now the
fear that it will be attacked from the rear. One sometimes wonders
despairingly where our troops will at last be prepared to stand.
17 MARCH 1945 159
Enemy materia! and numerical superiority cannot be the reason, for

the enemy is not all that superior on this front. On the Western
Front there are numerous advocates of the dangerous idea that the
Anglo-Americans should be given free passage into the Reich to
prevent it falling into Soviet hands. This is, of course, a fatal
misconception of the war situation and wê must under all cir-
cumstances take steps to dissipate it. On the other hand it becomes
even more essential to hold out to the troops and the civil popu-
lation some tangible prospects of victory. But what is one to say to
them? At the moment our knees are so weak that efforts to allay
people's fears about the mihtary situation bear little fruit. Even the
OKW report is couched in a serious gloomy tone. Anyone reading
it attentively can see from it that the Western Front has begun to
crumble and that at the same time we are not even semi-capable of
holding our position in the East.
As far as the West is concerned the Americans arc issuing drama-
tic reports about present conditions in Köln. The inhabitants arc in
the greatest distress. They have been restricted to one-third of the

rations issued in the United States.
The Americans are industriously trying to install their own
administration in all the regions they occupy. Even in the Linz
bridgehead they have taken steps to this end.
This evening it is officially announced from Washington that
even the Reich's unconditional surrender will no longer satisfy the
enemy. Whatever happens he intends to occupy the whole area of
the Reich. For the present his demands do not go further than that.
Perhaps the next one will be that we must all hang ourselves or
shoot ourselves beforehand. The enemy's thirst for destruction is
taking on the most extraordinary forms. The inordinate thirst for
revenge visible in the British and American Jewish press defies
description. Moreover the cynicism they evidence is without
parallel. They congratulate themselves quite openly on the destruc-
tion of German cities and cultural monuments, bearing witness to
the present age in a manner which literally brings blushes to the
cheeks. Churchill's recent speech illustrates the dark future in store
for Europe in the minds of leading British circles. The speech was
intended to lay a demolition charge underneath the Conservative
Party. Churchill's plan now is to split both the Conservative and
Labour Parties in order to form a new party from the splinters of
both. Churchill is a factor of destruction. He will surely go down to
world history as Europe's Herostratus,* capable of perpetuating his
• Herostratus - a favourite character of Hitler and Goebbels - burnt down the
temple of Diana at Ephesus in 356 bc solely in order to immortalise his name.
l60 17 MARCH 1945
name only by destroying what many generations have built up over

many centuries.
He will shortly be meeting the American Jew Baruch* who then
proposes to pay a visit to Stalin. In these conversations the looting
of the Reich will be settled in all its detail. Our Western enemies
cannot point to a single positive achievement.
Van Acker, the Belgian Minister-President, flatly states in an
interview that, when we were in occupation, we imported twenty
times as much food into Belgium in five months as the Alhes have
done. The latter nevertheless present themselves as hberators from
want and social misery.
For the moment they are pretending to be extraordinarily sur-
prised by political developments in Rumania. The Soviets have
outmanoeuvred them and are pursuing a poHcy entirely of their
own. The iron curtain has descended on the fate of Rumania. An
indifferent world no longer knows what is going on behind it.
Benest is playing his cards more cautiously than Radcscu. He is
going off straight away to Moscow to get prior sanction from the
Kremlin for the government he plans in Czecho-Slovakia. It will
presumably wear a marked communistic appearance.
The Soviets have now begun to get things going again in Upper
Silesia. The mines arc working at full pressure. The workers get a
miserable reduced ration from the Soviet administration but there is
as yet no question of any great terrorisation. Stahn's intention is no
doubt to extract the maximum possible war potential from Upper
Silesia.
A series of major acts of sabotage and assassinations has started in
Norway. The Norwegians apparently cannot wait for the time
when they come under Soviet control. We are dealing with this
wave of sabotage and assassinations with the utmost severity. Ter-
boven has a proper job on his hands here.
The internal situation in the Reich is governed almost exclusively
by the air war. Here is our real weakness in the overall conduct of
the war. For the first time for a long time we are again reporting
considerable numbers of enemy aircraft shotdown at night; this is
simply because our night fighters are taking off Recently enemy
casualties have been so deplorably low that they did not even merit a
mention in the OKW
report
The evacuation problem still gives rise to the greatest anxiety,
* Bernard Baruch "was economic adviser to President Roosevelt and a personal

friend of Churchill.
t President of Czechoslovakia at the time of the Munich Agreement. He then went
into exile, and was recognised by the AlUes as de jure President 1940—5.
17 MARCH 1945 161
Some 600,000 men are said to have passed under the Soviet knout in
Pomerania. This is primarily due to the fact that our miUtary leaders
refused to listen to the Führer's warnings that the Soviets would
drive for Pomerania. The Führer persists in his view that the West
should also be evacuated as far as possible. This instruction, how-
ever, leads to great difficulties since people show no enthusiasm for
leaving the West and moving into precarious conditions in the
interior of the Reich.
The fact that in this critical situation Rosenberg still refuses to
disband the Ministry for the East is almost comic. I may well take
the bull by the horns since reasoning is no good when so-called
prominent people are so stupid that they refuse to see plain common
sense.
General von Gottberg's* campaign, the object of which is to get
as many soldiers as possible to the front as quickly as possible, is
being carried on with very radical improvised measures. It is achiev-
ing considerable success. Gottberg's procedure is extremely strict;
anyway he is at least driving to the front the weaklings who have so
far invariably contrived to evade a front-Hne posting.
The weekly stock-taking of the capital's defences is extra-
ordinarily favourable. In a period of eight days we have succeeded
in increasing our stocks of weapons and food remarkably. Wecould
now withstand a siege of the capital for ten to twelve weeks, though
we should be in very straitened circumstances. In various sectors,
particularly tanksand assault guns, the figures show a vast increase.
Ammunition supply, however, is still a serious bottleneck. But I
have already taken the necessary steps to overcome it.A defence line
will now be constructed west of Stettin as far as Hoppegarten. By
employing 100,000 men this line will be completed in the shortest
possible time. Berlin itself has to make a considerable manpower
contribution.
I have had to work very hard all day. In the evening we have the
customary Mosquito raid on Berlin but, thank God, it did not do so

much damage. One now accepts it almost as a daily habit. We do
not manage to shoot down many of these Mosquitos. With them
the enemy has the upper hand one hundred per cent. When one
thinks of this going on long-term one is horror-stricken. But the
enemy has his worries too; they may not lie so much in the military
field but they are all the more striking in the political. In this
struggle, with poHtical crisis on the enemy side and military crisis
on ours, all now depends on who gets out of his depth first.
* See above p. 70.

SUNDAY 1 8 MARCH 1945
(pp. 1-25, 7 omitted in page-numbering)

Military Situation.
In Hungary our offensive made minor gains of ground between
Lake Balaton and the Drava. Strong Soviet counter-attacks were
repulsed between Lake Balaton and the Serves Canal and we gained
a little ground in an attack southwards.
In Slovakia the enemy continued his concentrated attacks in the
direction of Neusohl. He made small gains of ground here in
woodland fighting.
In the Schwarzwasser area strong Soviet attacks were driven off.
Violent enemy attacksfrom the bridgehead north of [-word illeg-
ible] and in the Neisse area were met by strong German resistance.
The fortresses of Breslau and Glogau repulsed enemy attacks from
various directions.
On the whole of the adjacent front as far as Küstrin only local
actions took place.
In Pomerania the bolshevists continued their heavy attacks on
the Stettin bridgehead. They succeeded in penetrating into
Altdamm.
Severe fighting also took place in West Prussia where the enemy
attacked the Gotenhafen and Danzig areas with large forces of tanks
and very strong air support. In general terms these attacks were
repulsed.
The East Prussian bastion also beat off strong Soviet attacks,
sealed off penetrations and maintained the cohesion of the front.
Numerous enemy tanks were again destroyed.
On the Courland front, in addition to the main centre of activity
east of Frauenburg, the enemy went over to the attack south-west of
the town after heavy artillery preparation. Apart from certain
minor penetrations all Soviet attacks were repulsed yesterday.
On the Western Front an attempted enemy crossing south-west
of Duisburg was defeated.
l8 MARCH 1945 163
On the central Rhine the day was marked by further bitter

fighting round the American bridgehead east of Remagen; the
enemy made only small advances in certain sectors.
On the lower Rhine front there was much artillery and recon-
naissance activity on both sides.
In the battle area south of the Moselle American armoured forces
reached the Nahe vaUey on a broad front. Three main directions of
enemy effort can be detected: towards the Rhine, southwards from
Bad Kreuznach in the region of the Nahe valley and westwards in
rear of our front on the Saar.
Strong attacks on the Siegfried Line between Saarlautern,
Saargemünd and Hagenau were repulsed and penetrations
sealed off.
No news from the Italian front.
special
morning 700 American four-engined bombers flew into
In the
Saxony from the west, attacking Bitterfeld, Plauen im Vogtl, Jena
and Weimar. Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Kaiserslautern and
Frankenberg an der Eder were also attacked.
At midday a larger formation of American four-engined bom-
bers raided Hannover and Münster. Recklinghausen was also
attacked. In the evening came the usual harassing raid on the capital
by 50-60 Mosquitos. During the night a medium to heavy raid was
made on Nuremberg. In addition there was continuous and Uvely
reconnaissance activity over the whole Reich.
A solitary piece of good news has arrived today - that the bridge
over the Rhine at Remagen has collapsed as a result of our pro-
longed artillery fire and attempts to blow it up using naval frogmen.
The Americans, of course, say that it is of no significance for supply
to the Linz bridgehead since they have adequate pontoons available;
in fact, however, they will naturally miss this heavy railway bridge
badly. It would be splendid if wc could succeed in eÜminating the
Linz bridgehead. At present, however, the Americans are in such
strength there that it is they not us who are making gains of ground.
At the moment the bridgehead is one of our greatest worries, apart
from the critical situation which has now arisen in the Saar region.
Here the Americans are trying to take us in rear and roll up the
Siegfried Line from behind, exactly as we did to the Maginot Line
during the offensive in the West in 1940. It is clear that we must put
inall our forces to stop this attempt, but it is very questionable
whether we can succeed.
l64 l8 MARCH 1945
By the way, five death sentences on officers have been pro-

nounced for failure to blow the Remagen bridge; they have been
carried out and announced in the OKW report. Naturally this
createdsome sensation. Officers of OKH fought tooth and nail to
prevent this news being given in the OKW report; but the Führer
refused to give way, and rightly, since execution of these sentences
should be educational. Unless they are announced they cannot have
this effect.
Political developments are increasingly governed by the forth-
coming conference in San Francisco. A remarkably violent dispute
has arisen between the partners in the enemy coaUtion over the
conference's methodology and agenda. United States public opin-
ion demands that firm commitments be entered into at San Fran-
cisco for the future world order and the organisation of so-called
world peace. The Soviets are fighting this tooth and nail since their
main interest, of course, is to keep things as fluid as possible after the
war in order to pick up some loot wherever they see an opportunity.
Stalin, therefore, has no intention of allowing the Americans and
British to put handcuffs on him. The British are playing only a
subordinate role in this. Shinwell, the MP,* was right when he
criticised Churchill in one of his speeches for possessing no pro-
gramme of any sort; he could not therefore count, Shinwell said, on
the existing truce between the working class and the Conservatives
being maintained after the war. For this reason alone Churchill has
an interest in bringing this war to an end and in the greatest possible
chaos since only then can he present himself as the saviour. He has
pursued a bankrupt's policy and is now staking his last penny in
order to win back England's lost property.
The enemy's situation has so far largely been governed by the
increasing food crisis not only in the occupied countries but also
among the belligerents. The British are very incensed that the
Americans are no longer willing to help them out; the Americans,
however, maintain that they cannot afford to make a reduction in
their food ration for fear of its effect on the morale of the American
people. In a statement to the press Roosevelt attempted to evade
making any clear decision. In any case the British now realise that
they must make severe reductions in their food ration if they are not
to face a catastrophic famine in late spring.
Life in the enemy-occupied areas of the West is pictured as real
hell. The French people must now pay dearly for their govern-
ment's folly in declaring war on us in September 1939. They
* Emmanuel Shinwell, Labour MP for Seaham Harbour.

l8 MARCH 1945 165
deserve all they get. Equally the Poles are now going round with
tears in their eyes lamenting that they have so far lost ten million
men from death, starvation, deportation and liquidation. That is the
punishment for Polish arrogance in August 1939. Had the Poles
accepted our extraordinarily generous proposals at that time, they
would have got off without even a scratch. As they are now, they
run the risk of slowly losing their people by a sort of creeping death.
The British and Americans are agreed that the situation in
Rumania has reached such a pass that they must take action. They
are therefore attempting to consult the Krerrdin which, however, is
stopping its ears and pretending ignorance of the deplorable state of
affairs of which the British and Americans complain. It is clear that,
in the present critical war situation, Stalin is doing his utmost to
harvest as much as he can. In any case the Anglo-Americans know
only a fraction of what is going on in Rumania. Stalin has long since
let down the iron curtain and behind it the Rumanian popular
tragedy is being played out, as the Rumanian leaders might have
foreseen — and as, moreover, they have richly deserved.
This Sunday is-anything but a day of rest for us. I had actually put
it aside to do a little clearing-up work but the enemy drew a red
pencil through that idea. The front-hne situation is horrifying, both

in the East and the West. For the moment developments in the West
cause us the greater anxiety. Here, as I have already stressed, the
Remagen bridgehead has been extended further; worse still, how-
ever, the Americans have crossed the Moselle on a broad front and
now have not only reached but passed the line of the Nahe. Appar-
ently there is at present no method of stopping the enemy armour in
this area. In East Prussia too and in the Ratibor area developments
have been anything but favourable.
In addition to all this at midday there was a heavy air raid on the
capital producing all sorts of trouble. The Americans attacked with
1300 bombers escorted by 700 fighters and we had only 28 new Me
262s with which to oppose them and they can only stay in the air for
half to three-quarters of an hour. Already there have been massive
air raids on various cities in the Reich during the last 24 hours and
now comes this heavy attack on the Reich capital. Berlin was on
air-raid alert for two hours. The eastern and northern quarters of the
capital, which have so far been comparatively immune, were the
main targets. After the raid the capital presents the usual dreadful
picture. From my house I can see fires burning all over the govern-
ment quarter. Opposite us the Blücher Palace, the building housing
the Swiss protecting power, is burning. But this is only a fraction of
what is going on in this vast city of millions of inhabitants. I drive
l66 1 8 MARCH 1945
Straight over to my command post and am given a provisional

survey of the damage by Schach. It is certainly not enlivening.
Schaub* is sent over by the Führer to get the news. For his benefit
I add a generous helping of criticism of the Luftwaffe and Goring.
Meanwhile one's ordinary work must be done. At midday the

Führer telephones for information about the situation in Berlin. I
give him an unvarnished report, primarily on the frame of mind of
the capital's population after such an air raid when there has been
practically no defence. The Führer thinks that our Me 262s have
done something; this is not yet confirmed by figures however. In
any case I do not beUeve that 28 fighters, however fast they may be,
can do anything worth mentioning against 1300 enemy bombers
escorted by 700 enemy fighters.
The Führer is extraordinarily preoccupied by the miHtary situ-
ation in the West. Last night his briefing conference lasted until 6.0
a.m. and he is therefore naturally very overtired. In the long run it is
intolerable that he should only have two hours' sleep night after
night.
By evening the situation in Berlin is roughly as follows: the
majority of fires have not yet been extinguished. The Americans
carried out heavy area bombing in Wedding and Niederschönau,
causing fearful devastation. At present traffic in the capital is at an
almost total standstill. This is largely due to the fact that electricity
supply is no longer functioning owing to failure of the transformer
stations. We have 60,000 homeless and about 500 dead. In addition
there are whole areas where no one knows how many people are
buried in the ruins. In extent this raid was at least as heavy as the last
terror raid made by the Americans on 28 February. Overall the
situation is a fairly crazy one and we shall have our hands full in the
next few days trying to get the Reich capital back to some form of
makeshift existence.
On top of this comes the evening mUitary situation report, show-
ing an extraordinarily worrying position. In Remagen the position
has been held more or less. The enemy is admittedly still on the
autobahn but for the moment he has not yet ventured to move
forward from it. Very heavy street fighting is going on in Koblenz.
The Moselle can no longer be referred to as a line. The enemy has
crossed it on a broad front and during the day was able to widen his
break-through considerably. He is now moving towards Bingen
and Mainz. In this battle zone we are putting in all reserves available.
It is not expected, however, that we can stop the enemy before the
* Hitler's personal adjutant.

l8 MARCH 1945 167
Rhine. The greatest danger is on the Saar front which, to judge from
the map, can no longer be held. The significance of the loss of the
Saar coal for our war potential can be calculated on the fingers of
one hand.
In the East small gains of ground are reported south of Lake
Balaton; in general terms, however, our great offensive has come to
a standstill. A big battle is raging in Upper Silesia. The Soviets
attacked at Ratibor and Grottkau and made deep penetrations.
There is danger of encirclement here and Schörner is making every
effort to prevent it. It is to be hoped that he succeeds. If it is at all
possible,Schörner will do it. He still has certain counter-measures
in reserve so thatone can contemplate future developments with
some confidence. After five days of a major Soviet offensive he has
at least succeeded in preventing the enemy making a break-
through. In the Stettin area and in East Prussia also severe fighting
some deep enemy penetrations. The same
has flared up resulting in
is on the Courland front. Nowhere, however, has the
the case
enemy made a break-through, thank God. We have now had to
evacuate Kolberg. The town, which has been defended with such
extraordinary heroism, could no longer be held. I will ensure that
the evacuation of Kolberg is not mentioned in the OKW
report. In
view of the severe psychological repercussions on the Kolberg
film* we could do without that for the moment.
In the evening we have the regulation Mosquito raid on Berlin
once more. The enemy aircraft flew over a city still burning. One
can imagine the jubilation in the Anglo-American press tomorrow.
* For this film see above. Introduction p. xxxii.

(pp- 1-35)
Military Situation.
In the East enemy attacks in Hungary centred on the area Fel-
sögalla-Stuhlweissenburg, in SUesia on the area Cosel-Leobschütz,
on Stettin, on the Danzig-East Prussian area and in Courland.
In Hungary the enemy attacked west and north-west between
Stuhlweissenburg and Felsögalla against a front in the Vertes moun-
tains only thinly manned by Hungarian troops; here he made sev-
eral penetrations to a depth of 1 5-20 km. Attacks on Mor failed.
Between Mor and Stuhlweissenburg the enemy reached the
Stuhlweissenburg-Komorn railway. One of our attacks near
Marcali south of Lake Balaton gained some ground.
Nothing of significance on the Slovakian front.
The heavy enemy attacks between Stelitz and Schwarzwasser
directed on Mährisch-Ostrau have died away and now more
resemble holding operations. The bolshevists transferred the main
weight of their offensive to the Ratibor-Neisse area. Moving from
Cosel the enemy penetrated to the vicinity of Leobschütz. Simul-
taneously he moved on Neustadt (Silesia) from west and north. He
drove south, by-passing Neisse on the east, and joined up at Neus-
tadt (Silesia) with the Soviet forces attacking from the direction of
Cosel. Attacks on Neisse failed; our own attacks on the enemy
break-in from the area east of Neisse also failed to make progress.
North of Neisse he continued to attack both east and west, his
object being to extend the flanks of his break-in between Grottkau
and Neisse. Heavier enemy attacks on Breslau also failed.
The front as far as Stettin was relatively quiet. Violent enemy
attacks on our Une covering Stettin were repulsed apart from some
minor penetrations.
Enemy attacks with close air support on Danzig-Gotenhafen and
the remainder of East Prussia were very heavy. Those on Danzig
and Gotenhafen with very heavy enemy losses in
in general failed
19 MARCH 1945 169
men and tanks. He managed to capture a hill west of Gotenhafen.

The remains of our East Prussian bridgehead now really consist
only of the towns of Braunsberg and Heiligenbeil; here heavy
enemy attacks were held in our own artillery positions east of
Heihgenbeil. Despite a severe shortage of ammunition 102 Soviet
tanks were destroyed in the Heiligenbeil sector. At Königsberg and
in Samland it was quieter yesterday.
InCourland an enemy penetration south-west of Frauenburg
was dealt with by counter-attack. Soviet elements which had
broken through were cut off and annihilated. North-west of
Frauenburg the enemy made some small penetrations in the course
of violent attacks which brought him to the Libau-Mitau railway.
In the West an attempted enemy crossing in greater strength at
Rheinhausen opposite Duisburg was defeated. Otherwise there
were no actions of importance on the whole Rhine front as far as the
Remagen bridgehead. In the bridgehead the enemy, attacking
strongly northwards and southwards, made small gains of ground.
In the north the enemy is now in the region north of Königswinter;
south of the bridgehead fighting is taking place between Hönningen
and Waldbreitbach. The maximum depth of the bridgehead is now
about 10 km.
In the battle zone between the Moselle and the Nahe the enemy
again made ground. He forced his way into Kreuznach and is now
south of the town attacking southwards through Hochstetten and
south-west towards Sobernheim where he has reached the Nahe.
Enemy forces advancing from west and north-west have reached a
hne Kirn-Idar-Oberstein-Baumholder-Kusel— St Wendel. Attack-
ing from south to north enemy forces reached the area south of
Zweibrücken. The enemy also attacked in the lower Vosges south
of Bitsch and between Reichshofen and Hagenau but there was no
apreciable change in the situation.
No special reports from Italy.
On the Eastern Front there was sustained enemy air activity in
Hungary and in the Königsberg-Danzig area. Merely in the
remains of the East Prussian bridgehead, for instance, and at
Königsberg 1200 Soviet close support aircraft were in action. Our
own air activity was very considerable. 29 enemy aircraft were shot
down.
On the Western Front there was very heavy enemy fighter and
fighter-bomber activity — about 1200 fighters — directed mainly on
the central Rhine and Moselle. In the communications zone there
was sustained fighter and fighter-bomber activity directed mainly
on the Rhine-Main area and Münsterland.
lyo 19 MARCH 1945
About 1200 American four-engined bombers with 700 fighters as

escort attacked Berhn in three waves. The attack was made from a
height of 18,000-20,000 feet, mostly in good visibihty. The whole
area of the city was affected with the exception of Wilmersdorf,
Steglitz, Spandau and Zehlendorf. The raid was concentrated on the
city centre and the northern and north-eastern districts. In the
afternoon a British formation of 150 four-engined bombers
attacked industrial and transport targets in Bochum. Some 300
twin-engined bombers attacked Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Darm-
stadt, Giessen, Siegen, Dortmund and Recklinghausen.
38 "Sturmvögel" (jet fighters) were in action against the raid on
Berlin and shot down 15 enemy. Anti-aircraft accounted for a
further 7.
During the night the usual harassing raid was made on Berlin and
another one on Nuremberg. Some 150 British four-engined bom-
bers attacked transport targets in the Dortmund-Bochum area.
About 250 British bombers carried out a raid on Hanau with a
diversionary raid on Kassel. Night fighters shot down 5 four-
engined bombers. Anti-aircraft results are not yet to hand.
The situation in the West is becoming ever more complex. To judge

from the map we must reckon that we are about to lose the Saar
territory for the very good reason that the enemy is getting behind
us. Bingen has already fallen into his hands. We shall have to fight
very hard to be able to hold the Rhine front at all, for the situation in
the Linz bridgehead has become extraordinarily critical. The
Americans are exerting the utmost pressure and our forces sur-
rounding the bridgehead cannot contain an assault with such a
weight of metal. The result is that the enemy is continually extend-
ing his bridgehead, admittedly not by much but by something all
the same. Everyone knows that the question w^hether we can hold
him here pr whether the running sore will break out again is
decisive.
The Americans, however, have their own special worries too,
though unconnected with mihtary equipment and manpower. In
the areas they occupy they are finding it not so easy to handle
matters as they had imagined. Famine is already setting in. The
Americans are in no position to guarantee food suppUes or to ration
properly the stocks still available. They have no sort of adminis-
trative experience and the German administrators who have
remained behind are not of the highest quality. The population is
19 MARCH 1945 171
offering increasing resistance to the enemy occupation authorities,

so the American newspapers are now beginning to lament that,
taking a long-term view, chaos and famine on the largest scale are
unavoidable in the German districts they occupy. So the enemy
bubble is now beginning to burst. The Anglo-Americans are extra-
ordinarily unimaginative and inflexible in the pursuit of their war
aims. They understand nothing either of war psychology or admin-
istration in wartime. They bravely hurled mud at us when we were
occupying large areas both in East and West; the fact remains,
however, that the German occupying power provided peace, good
order and tolerable living conditions and all this has now been
completely upset by the Anglo-Americans. They call it all freedom
from want and fear. How is it to be expected, however, that the
British of all people would possess the strength and inteUigence to
deal with extraordinarily difficult problems of administration and
rationing in the occupied German districts when they cannot even
do it in their own country. A defmite food crisis has broken out in
England; it is a sort of world phenomenon from which our enemies
are not exempt. The meat ration has been further reduced and now
stands at one-third of the American ration. The British public is
very indignant and the British newspapers give vent to this indig-
nation in the most drastic terms. Morally the Americans come out
of this very badly.
Parallel with this the political crisis continues and is now affecting
domestic affairs in England. In his speech to the Conservative Party
Conference Churchill was trying to pour oil on troubled waters,
but he succeeded only in pouring oil on the flames. His speech is
being challenged on all sides and it is being indicated to him in both
Conservative and Labour Party pubhcity that, although he may still
be acceptable as a war leader, as a peacetime leader he would be
rejected by practically all circles concerned. There is no doubt,
therefore, that shortly after the end of the war Churchill will be
despatched to the wilderness. It is, after all, long-established British
practice to tolerate men who amass an exaggerated plenitude of
power in wartime but in peacetime to cast them off at once.
To make matters worse Churchill is now having a row with the
trade unions and his latest speech has put the cat among the pigeons.
The trade unions feel that he has defrauded them. They thought that
after the war they would regain freedom to agitate and negotiate,
but Churchill does not propose to give it them. He is, after all,
basically the old obdurate stubborn Tory who understands nothing

whatsoever of social problems and so is about as well suited to our
century as a dinosaur.
172 19 MARCH 1945
In France also a cabinet crisis has now broken out; the com-
munists are threatening to resign from the cabinet unless the
government purges the administration of so-called fascist elements.
It is well known that communists always call everything fascist that
is not communist and, under the guise of a struggle against fascism,
exterminate all forces opposing bolshevisation of a country in

which they have any influence. The Soviets are acting far more
vigorously in Bulgaria, where their power is absolute. A series of
mass death sentences on generals of the Bulgarian army has just
been carried out. The politicians having had their shot in the nape of
the neck, it is now the turn of the military. No one is being spared
even though he may have flirted with bolshevism when we were
still in Bulgaria. Equally, in Rumania the Soviets have no thought in
their mind of hstening to the British and Americans. On the con-

trary Pravda is now heavily attacking the British press because it has
supported Radescu. Radescu is described as a super-fascist of the
worst sort who has merited death a thousand times over. In this
cormection the Soviets are giving the PoUsh government-in-exile in
London one or two hard knocks. Arziszewki* is pictured as a
depraved wretch. According to Pravda the London Poles are a gang
of degenerate landowners rejected by the Polish people. In short
Pravda^ general tone is one hardly customary even between
enemies, let alone between allies.
Maniut has now resigned as leader of the national-zaranist party
under pressure from the Soviets. Maniu was the man who prepared
and organised the betrayal of Germany. He is now getting the
punishment he has long deserved.
Elections have taken place in Finland, the first to be held in a
belligerent country during the war. These elections show an unmis-
takable increase in the communist vote. The percentage of votes
cast was small and they came mainly from bourgeois circles. The
Soviets obviously conducted a terror campaign outside the polling
stations. The communists scored 328,000 votes against 334,000 for
the Social-democrats. The communists are therefore able to com-
pete for the leadership of Finland with the Social-democrats who
have been omnipotent in Finnish politics. It will be interesting to see
* Tomasz Arziszewski, leader of the Polish sociahst party, had fought against the
Germans in the Polish underground movement tül July 1944, when he was
brought secretly to London. On 29 November he succeeded Mikolajczyk as Prime
Minister of Poland.
t President of the Rumanian National Peasant Party. He had opposed the pro-
German dictatorship of Antonescu. He would be executed by the communists in
1947-
19 MARCH 1945 173
how the Anglo-Americans react. The fact remains, however, that

the Soviets have been unable to implement their full plan as regards
the Finnish elections. They have not organised a Baltic election.
Obviously they are too apprehensive of the watch kept on them by
the Anglo-Americans.
There is much talk in Moscow now of an imminent advance on
Berlin. I assume, however, that the object is to lead us down a false
trail once more. The Soviet newspapers state that they will soon be
in the Reich capital and that will be the end of the war. On the other
hand we must be very much on the watch, since the calm on the
Oder front is naturally only an ostensible one. There is no doubt at
all that the Soviets are bringing up troops and equipment on this
front and could move forward any day.

The Czechs are becoming increasingly impudent. They now
regard themselves in the role of freedom fighters. They want to join
the whole hostile world now raising its head against us. They have
not yet plucked up courage, however, to make an open declaration
of war; as we all know, the Czechs are too easy-going and too
cowardly for that.
The Pope has made a speech to a large crowd in St Peter's Square.
word against bolshevism but inveighed
Significantly he said not a
against the false doctrines of nationalism, race and blood. Clearly
the Pope is shutting his eyes to the rise of bolshevism all over
Europe. He is making the best of it and trying to gain some sort of
touch with the mighty Kremlin, at least indirectly.
Meczer, the new Hungarian envoy in Berlin, pays me his inau-
gural visit. Meczer markedly fanatical Hungarian nationalist
is a
who, so he tells me, has known Horthy for 40 years. He describes
Horthy as a complete opportunist understanding little of the con-
duct either of war or policy but adept in the field of corruption and
lining his own pocket. His family was out-and-out corrupt. His wife
was a very bad influence on him. His sons were typical lounge
lizards who had completely perverted the Budapest gentry. Con-
cerning the Hungarian nationahst movement Meczer tells me that it
is doing its utmost to assert itself in western Hungary which it still
controls but at the moment this is being extraordinarily difficult.

Nothing is from the Magyars. They were corpses
to be expected
before they were dead. Meczer told me simply horrifying stories of
bolshevist atrocities in recaptured Hungarian towns; they were
enough to freeze the blood in one's veins. He added that he had
passed a report on the subject to the Papal Nuncio in Berlin; the
Nuncio had merely shrugged his shoulders. Apparently, therefore,
the Nuncio thinks as does the Pope - that one must not provoke the
174 19 MARCH 1945
mighty and should try not to antagonise them whatever dirty

business they are up to.
At midday we have a long meeting of the Berlin Defence Coun-
cil. Hahne, Obermeister of Berlin and the first man to win the
Knight's Cross to the Service Cross, has written me an extra-

War
ordinarily instructive letter on the design of our tank obstacles. In
this letter he pleads for simplification of our obstacles which, he
says, if his advice were taken, could be made far more solid and
secure. I am having this question carefully examined.
The problem of foreign workers in Berlin is creating extra-
ordinary difficulties. We must try to keep these workers here as
long as Berlin industry is in a position to function at all. We want to
keep at least the arms industry going even if Berlin is surrounded.
On the other hand there are some 100,000 workers from the East in
the capital. If they fall into Soviet hands, in two or three days they
will have turned into bolshevist infantry fighting against us. In
extreme emergency we must therefore try to get at least the work-
ers from the East to safety as quickly as possible.
Burgomaster Steeg* wants to move closer to the city all cattle on
the Berlin municipal estates which lies to the east of us. This creates
difficulties, however, since the people of Brandenburg will natur-
ally draw far-reaching conclusions and that is anything but desir-
able at present.
said, during the recent raid on Berlin some 30 of
As I have already
our jet were in action for the first time. They are making the
aircraft
enemy prick up his ears. The jets shot down a number of enemy
planes, a very promising beginning. Nevertheless the raid on Berlin
was, of course, frightful. We have registered about 1000 dead and
65,000 homeless. Traffic in the capital is largely at a standstill.
Columns of men make their way to factories and offices on foot. I
hope, however, that transport can be got going quickly again, at

least to some extent, since stoppages are largely due to the failure of
the electricity supply. We must set to work on this.
It is reported to me that the recent air-raid on Würzburg des-
troyed almost the entire centre of this lovely Main city. All build-
ings of architectural value fell victim to the flames. So the last
beautiful German city still intact has now gone. Thus we say a
melancholy farewell to a past which will never return. A world is
going down but we all retain a firm faith that a new world will arise
from its ashes.
Elsewhere the enemy has again raided Kassel, Hanau and the
• Burgomaster of Berlin.
19 MARCH 1945 175
Ruhr, aiming primarily at transport targets which, as we know, do

us the greatest damage.
Yet another report confirms that the standard of luxury both in
personnel and material enjoyed by the Luftwaffe cries to high
heaven. Investigation of Luftwaffe barracks and messes revealed
conditions which beggar description. I can only go on repeating
that here is the nigger in our woodpile. Here is where our work of
reformation must begin.
Supervision of transport of weapons and ammunition is now
being carried out from the most diverse angles, so that the danger of
quantities of arms and ammunition remaining parked in mar-
shalling yards has been reduced to a minimum.
State Secretary (retd) Musschl sends me a detailed memorandum
on his investigation of the Foreign Office. This memorandum
shows that in addition to the Foreign Service Ribbentrop has organ-
ised a propaganda service in the Foreign Office employing more
personnel than there are in the Propaganda Ministry itself. Here is
an instance of over-bureaucratisation of our Foreign Service. Above
all the mere fact that a propaganda service exists in the Foreign
Office shows that there is acute danger of our diplomats concerning
themselves more with propaganda, of which they understand
nothing, and neglecting foreign policy to an extent detrimental to
our conduct of the war. I shall make use of State Secretary Mussehl's
memorandum to make most categorical demands on Ribbentrop
for a streamlining of his office.
On the subject of low-level propaganda activity a whole series of
useful suggestions has been made to me. This low-level activity
must now be pursued particularly among our troops in the West,
Morale among the troops in the West is in a very bad state and to
some extent this is aggravated by the fact that the people are now
war- weary. The theory that the Anglo-Americans should be
allowed into the country so that at least the greater part of Reich
territory should not be occupied by the Soviets is a pernicious one.
This theory is incredibly naive and childish. It influences people's
frame of mind, however, and therefore we must now counter it. I
intend to initiate a large-scale propaganda campaign. Above all,
however, it seems to me essential to iron out the serious differences
which public opinion thinks have arisen between the Party and the
Wehrmacht. It is typically German that Wehrmacht officers should
try to lay the blame for our recent set-backs on the Party, and the
pohtical leaders lay the blame on the Wehrmacht. The one accuses
the other of neglect of duty and of cowardice. In my view, however,
this is no time to look for scapegoats, instead it is our duty to work
lyö 19 MARCH 1945
together unanimously and not display our weaknesses to the

enemy. Subsequent historical research will establish where blame
lies and where merit.
Disagreeable news comes from the Linz bridgehead again this
evening. Fighting is very severe there. The Americans have man-
aged to fight their way 5 km beyond Königswinter. In the
Moselle-Saar area there is confused fluctuating fighting from which
no firm lines have emerged at present. Our troops are trying to set
up anti-tank barriers against the advancing American armoured
hordes. This will primarily hold up the enemy advance towards
Mainz. East of-Merzig he has pushed forward to St Wendel. He is
therefore practically in rear of our Saar front. Counter-measures,
which have been initiated, are for the moment of a modest nature.
Fighting is still going on in Koblenz. In addition one must reckon
that the major enemy offensive in the Arnhem—Wesel area will
restart in all its fury in the next few days.
In Hungary wc are now completely on the defensive. The enemy
was able to gain some more ground north of Lake Velencz. There is
no more reference to an offensive by our crack army. In Upper
Silesia our troops are fighting their way out of an enemy encircle-
ment. Schörncr has launched certain counter-attacks. He maintains
that they will succeed and states that the situation is better in reality
than it looks on the map. In Breslau and in the Stettin bridgehead
enemy attacks were repulsed apart from one or two small penet-
rations. The situation in Danzig and East Prussia is becoming
increasingly critical. A
major battle is raging here with undi-
minished fury. We have suffered no major losses of ground here but
the whole area we hold is so narrow that we cannot afford any at all.
In the evening I have a call from Forster, who is on a visit to
Berlin. He gives me a most dramatic description of the situation in
the Danzig-Gotenhafen area. He does not think that we can hold
out there much longer. The evacuation problem has become very
difficult for him since he has about 700,000 people in Danzig; he can
feed them but can no longer arrange to transport them from the
city. With its reduced number of vessels the Navy is in no position
to do so.
The Führer has received a number of members of the Hitler
Youth who have won the Iron Cross during the fighting in the East.
He gave them a warm encouraging speech which we are publishing
in a press communique.
Otherwise the Führer is up to his eyes in work re-establishing
firm fronts, primarily in the West.
This evening we thought that for once the British were giving us
19 MARCH 1945 177
a night free of Mosquito raids. Instead they arrived at 4.0 a.m.

which, of course, is far more unpleasant for a city with millions of
inhabitants. If the British intend to repeat this process every night
from now on, they wül get the three million inhabitants of Berlin
into a state of considerable nervousness.
(pp. 1-34, 10 omitted in page-numbering)

Yesterday: Military Situation.
The main weight of fighting in the East is still in Silesia, the Danzig
area and East Prussia.
The bolshevists who had penetrated into Neustadt in Silesia
advanced farther west towards Ziegenhals where they were held by
counter-attack. In addition counter-attacks northwards from
Leobschütz were successful and drove the enemy back. Some of our
detachments are fighting their way back through enemy-occupied
country between Oppeln and Cosel and are reinforcing the new
security line which runs east of Neisse, north-east of Ziegenhals,
south of Neustadt and cast of Leobschütz. Meanwhile, however, in
the Oppeln-Ziegenhals battle zone the enemy has gained ground to
a depth of 30-40 km on a front of 50— 60 km. Violent Soviet attacks
between Neisse and Strehlen and also on Breslau were repulsed.
Soviet attacks were also broken up at Schwarzwasser. The enemy is
reinforcing in the Schrau-Rybnik area. He made repeated heavy
attacks on Glogau but with no success at all. Local fighting flared up
in the sector from Frankfurt on Oder to Küstrin. Heavy attacks
were made on our lines on the east bank of the Oder at Stettin; the
enemy broke in on the cast and south, reaching the Stettin-
Altdamm railway. Altdamm itself was occupied by the enemy.
Kolbcrg too fell into enemy hands. The Soviets stepped up their
offensive on Gotcnhafcn and Danzig and particularly on what
remains of East Prussia; attacks were made with great violence,
numerous tanks and particularly strong close air support. West of
Gotenhafcn the Soviets penetrated deeper and they made a small
local break-in south-west of Danzig. West and north-west of
Heiligenbeil the enemy penetrated more deeply, gaining 3-4 km of
ground in very severe fighting with headquarters and supply units.
Enemy superiority in the air and in artillery is so overwhelming that
resistance in this sector cannot be continued much longer. The
20 MARCH 1945 179
enemy continued to attack heavily in Courland but was repulsed

apart from minor penetrations either side of Frauenburg.
In Hungary our offensive between Lake Balaton and the Drava
made some progress in a southerly direction south-east of Marcali.
Enemy attacks in the Sio sector failed, as did an attack on the
bridgehead at Aba. The enemy bridgehead over the Sarbitz Canal
was eliminated. Strong Soviet attacks north-east of Stuhlwcis-
senburg led to a break-in into the town. Continued Soviet attacks
between Felsögalla and Stuhlweissenburg compelled us to with-
draw our front to a new line.
On the Western Front the Americans attacked northwards and
eastwards from their Linz bridgehead. Along the Rhine they
reached a point just north of Oberkassel where a strong counter-
attack is in progress to cut off their leading armoured units. East of
Honnef the enemy gained ground at several points, capturing a
number of localities east of the autobahn. He is now 2-3 km beyond
the autobahn on a front of 6 km.
In the Kreuznach area the enemy pushed on farther towards
Mainz and his leading troops are now some 1 5 km south-west of the
city and have reached the Mainz— Alzey road. South of Kreuznach
the Americans were able to make only minor gains of ground
southwards. The enemy advanced east from the Kirn and Baumhol-
der areas reaching Meisenheim and Lauterecken. No special
developments in the sector between Kusel, St Wendel and Saar-
lautern. East of Saarbrücken all enemy attacks were repulsed. In
Alsace our troops occupied the Siegfried Line positions between
Weissenburg and Lauterburg. Weissenburg fell into enemy hands.
Attacks on Lauterburg were repulsed.
No special reports to hand from the Italian front.
Enemy air activity in the East was again extremely heavy especi-
ally in the Danzig— Braunsberg area where 2800 Soviet aircraft were
in action. Our air force shot down 34 enemy aircraft.
In the West there was sustained activity by enemy fighter-
bombers and twin-engined bombers over the zone of the front and
areas in rear.
Some 1300 American four-engined bombers escorted by about
700 fighters raided places in central and southern Germany includ-
ing Jena, Zwickau, Plauen, Schwarzheide and Espenheim. British
specialist air formations attacked bridges and viaducts in the area
Lage-Arnsberg. About 150 British four-engined bombers attacked
transport and industrial targets in the area Bochum-Dort-
mund-Recklinghausen. Some 450 twin-engined bombers raided
Münster, Unna, Bad Wildungen, Siegen, Marburg, Gicssen.
l80 20 MARCH 1945
Hanau, Darmstadt and Mannheim. Some 600 American four-

engined bombers from Italy bombed industrial and transport
targets in Mühldorf, Passau and Landshut. About 1 50 British Mos-
quitos made the usual harassing raid on Berlin. 70 British four-
engined bombers raided Brück an der Mur. During the night 11
enemy aircraft were shot down.
The following figures are available regarding the raid on Berlin
on the 1 dead 227, wounded 849, missing 450, homeless 65,000;
8th:
HE bombs dropped 6000 (including 650 delayed action), stick-
bomb incendiaries 500,000, liquid fuel incendiaries 3000.
Gauleiter Stöhr gives mc over the telephone an extraordinarily

tragic account of the present situation in the Saar territory. Accord-
ing to him the people's morale and that of the Wehrmacht has sunk
to an extraordinarily low level — as indeed I had assumed. The
fighting troops evince httle readiness to hold the defence line and
this naturally reacts on the people's attitude. There is nothing to be
done with the generals commanding on the Saar front. The Party
moment; even
political leaders are the sole strong firm factor at the
they, however, are to some extent infected with the defeatist spirit.
To Stöhr's question what fresh arguments he can adduce for the
possibility of a German victory I can unfortunately give no satis-
factory answer; I can only advise him to continue with the proven
lines of propaganda. I comfort him somewhat and in the end he
seems quite happy. It must be remembered that at the moment the
Saar territory is subject to uninterrupted air attack, that neither the
radio nor the wired broadcasting system are functioning and that
the political leaders do not even have the necessary paper to print
leaflets.In this area the political leadership can only work with
improvised methods, the scope for which is extraordinarily limited.
The Remagen bridge, which has given us so much trouble, is
now the subject of widespread polemics between our Western
enemies and ourselves. The enemy maintain that the bridge did not
collapse on its own but was destroyed by the German Luftwaffe.
This seems to me also to be the case. It was hit so often that
eventually it was not bearing. The Americans, however, explicitly
emphasise that the collapse of the Remagen bridge has constituted
no obstacle to their military operations in the Linz bridgehead and
this may well be right also, since they are attacking on all sides of
the bridgehead continuously.
The Anglo-American press is now admitting with truly stupefy-
20 MARCH 1945 181
ing candour what we may expect from the British and Americans if
we lose the war. A remark such as that Germany will be nothing but
a mummy in the museum of history is quite a tame one. The enemy
is indulging in an unparalleled orgy of hate and thirst for des-
truction. If only for this reason no man of honour can draw any
conclusion other than that we must fight as long as there is breath in
our bodies.
Ten thousand British scientists are now being trained for the
destruction of the whole of German industry. This has been offi-
cially admitted by the British Ministry of Labour. The British, who
are in such a miserable condition themselves, can only be described
as sons of chaos. They are destroying a world of which they
themselves are part and on which they are dependent both nation-
ally and individually and they have no conception of the disastrous
consequences which will ensue if they do actually succeed in un-
hinging this world. These consequences are already to be seen to a
certain extent among the British public. The British food position
has become extraordinarily critical. The Americans, as they admit,
are in no position to provide, for instance, meat for Britain, since
they would then have to reduce their own meat ration which
Roosevelt clearly has no wish to do. He cannot at the moment
afford further damage to the already low American morale through
restrictions in the food supply. The result is a definite crisis in
Britain which is discussed in a challenging tone by the London
press. The Economist even forecasts imminent chaos if the British
government is forced to reduce the meat ration to the level now
planned. Various British newspapers even go so far as to say that for
the rest of the war Britain's main enemy is not Germany but the
threatened food crisis, not to say threatened famine. Here is some-
thing offering us some hope - a considerable degree of hope. The
food crisis not only in Britain but also in enemy-occupied regions is
reaching a height which is simply intolerable in the long run. This is
therefore one more reason for the German people continuing to
hold on, no matter where or with what.
The Soviets have much simpler ways of dealing with this prob-
lem. In the vilest manner they simply deport whole sections of
people from one part of the Soviet Union or from some region they
occupy to another. They make short work of certain nationalities in
the process. They state quite callously, for instance, that certain
peoples living in the regions we once occupied are to be deported to
eastern Russia because they are clearly too heavily imbued with
National-Socialist propaganda. How on earth will the Soviets treat
the German people if they lay hands on them?
182 20 MARCH I945
Stalin is still pursuing his tactics of putting all the military forces
he possesses in his shop window and leaving the rear areas com-
paratively undisturbed. From a report which I have received from
Bromberg I see that the enemy is keeping comparatively few troops
in the town. On the other hand they stream uninterruptedly up to
the front.
Hanke sends me an extraordinarily dramatic and instructive
report from Breslau. From it one can see that Hanke is absolutely on
top of his job. He is representative of today's most energetic
National-Socialist leader. The fighting through the city has turned
Breslau into a veritable heap of ruins. But the people of Breslau,
defending their city hke a fortress, have turned this to good account
and are defending every pile of stones with dogged fury. The
Soviets are shedding an extraordinary amount of blood in the battle
for Breslau. Hanke's letter shows that a remarkable aptitude for
improvisation is contributing to the defence of Breslau. He writes
to me pei-sonally to say that the experience he gained in the struggle
for Berlin is being of great use to him.
The result of the Finnish elections looks as if it had given the
Social-democrats 52 seats and the communists 51. This means that
the communists are almost holding the balance. A left-wing
government of Social-democrats and Communists is now in the
realm of possibility, giving the Soviets a stepping-stone to the
assumption of total power inside Finland. They will certainly not
hesitate to exert pressure to bring this left-wing cabinet into exis-
tence as soon as possible. Paasiviki is already offering himself as
head of this left-wing government. His speech on the day before the
election had such a depressing effect on bourgeois circles that -
extraordinarily typical of them once more - they largely abstained.
This explains the great left-wing victory. Paasiviki will not long
enjoy his reputation as the Finnish Kerensky, however. A shot in
the nape of the neck awaits him in the background.
Switzerland has now broken off almost all economic relations
with us and is totally under the domination of the US economy.
Economic exchanges with Switzerland had already been reduced
more or less to a minimum.
We have had another wild series of air raids on Reich territory in
the last 24 hours. They can no longer be recorded in detail.
A bleak report has arrived from Würzburg. The recent terror raid
on the city destroyed all cultural monuments and 85 % of the
housing. Würzburg was a city which had hitherto remained
immune from enemy air raids. So the last centre of German culture
goes down in dust and ashes. If ever we are fortunate enough to
20 MARCH 1945 183
have this war behind us, we have to begin again from the
shall
beginning. There will not be much of theold world left.
We have now at least been sufficiently far-sighted in our pre-
cautions that we have made
makeshift preparations against gas
attack. Gas masks so produced, however, are sufficient to equip
far
only about 35 % of the population. Nevertheless that is better than
nothing. Moreover, should the enemy initiate gas warfare, the
Führer intends to react with drastic counter-measures.
TheJoachimsthaler newspaper reports that Goring has shot a bison
and presented it to refugees on the road. * The newspaper's report
abounds in psychological errors and more or less demonstrates the
height of degeneracy reached by Goring and his entourage. I pass
this report to the Führer with a note reminding him of the Bourbon
princess who, as the mob stormed the Tuileries shouting "Bread!"
asked the naive question: "Why don't the people eat cake?" The
Führer seizes on this comment and is extraordinarily sharp with
Goring during his briefing conference, following it with a long
private interview. One can imagine how he reproached Goring
during this interview! But what's the good ofthat? The public hears
nothing about it; the pubUc sees only the debacle of the Luftwaffe
and the incompetence of Goring and his staff in dealing with it. The
Führer will not bring himself to appoint a new Commander-
in-Chief of the Luftwaffe. From many quarters Dönitz is being
proposed for the post and I think this proposal is not too wide of the
mark. In re-establishing freedom of movement for our U-boats
Dönitz has shown that he can cope even with a serious technical
crisis. He is a solid honest worker and he would certainly put the
Luftwaffe on its feet again, even if on a reduced scale.
Continuing with the Goring problem, I propose to send the
Führer a chapter from Carlyle recounting how Frederick the Great
dealt with Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia after he had made a
complete mess of the Zittau affair. Frederick took his own brother
and successor to the throne to court - an exemplary procedure. He
took not the smallest account of the fact that they were related.
When August Wilhelm threatened to retire to Dresden, Frederick
replied tersely in writing that the next convoy for Dresden was
leaving that very evening. As we know August Wilhelm died of a
broken heart shortly thereafter but Frederick was in no way dis-
concerted and felt his conscience clear. I call this truly frederician.
This is the way we should act in dealing with the obvious failures in
the Party, in the administration or in the Wehrmacht. The Führer's
* For a similar story sec Semler. 176.

p.
l84 20 MARCH 1945
procrastination over the matter of Goring has brought the greatest

misfortune on the nation.
I now hand the Führer a memorandum on reform of the
Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe now has only hmited radius of action
a
but it is maintaining an organisation of a size bearing no relation to
its tasks. The Luftwaffe's potentialities are extraordinarily hmited
and its organisation must be scaled down accordingly. Today the

Luftwaffe still employs li million men. I think an estabUshment of
3-400,000 would be quite enough, particularly seeing that much of
the anti-aircraft has been relinquished to the front and ammunition
stocks for the remaining anti-aircraft are small.
I hold prolonged discussions at Gau level on command of the
Reich capital, naturally an increasingly difficult problem in this

tense situation. In the first place we have by no means overcome the
effects of the recent air raids. As far as transport is concerned we are
still on our knees. It will require the sternest efforts to get the
transport system working again and it is fundamental to any normal

existence in the capital.
Müller from Oslo* has come to Berlin on my instructions to be
briefed for his new post as propaganda driving force in the West. He
is to be attached to Kesselring and he is given full plenary powers for
this assignment by me. His task consists of raising the sinking

morale of our troops in the West, making use of every propaganda
method and every opportunity for the purpose. I regard Müller as
the man who can fulfil this task with energy and initiative.
Developments in the West during the day have been much on the
same lines as hitherto. The enemy is exerting extraordinarily heavy
pressure in the Kaiserslautem direction. North-east of this point we
have held firm: elsewhere, however, the Americans are just outside
Oppenheim. The situation in the Saar territory is extraordinarily
obscure. It is not possible to establish precisely where the lines run;
in fact it is all a thorough mess. In general terms the Siegfried Line
has held. But what good is that if it is likely to be taken in rear.
North of the Saar territory a confused war of movement is raging.
The fronts here cannot be delineated at all. In very general terms it
may be said that all fighting is moving back towards the Rhine. The
situation in the Remagen bridgehead has worsened again. We have
again been driven back both on the northern and southern sides.
In Hungary our offensive has now finally come to naught. Not
only have we been forced onto the defensive but our defence has
become extraordinarily feeble, resulting in considerable penet-
* Georg Wilhelm Müller was Goebbels' personal representative. Hitherto he had
been attached to the Reich Commissioner for Norway (Terboven).

20 MARCH 194s 185
rations and losses. The enemy has recaptured the town of Stuhl-
weissenburg. Admittedly we are making counter-attack after
counter-attack but they do not penetrate. In Upper Silesia our
forces have in general terms escaped from Soviet encirclement. The
front has just held. The enemy is regrouping owing to his severe
losses; some regrouping is also in progress on our side. Glogau was
attacked in great strength but it weathered the storm. Very heavy
attacks are also reported from Stettin. The Stettin bridgehead is
now becoming increasingly constricted. The same may be said of
West and East Prussia. The penetrations made in this area by the
enemy would not be significant if we had space behind us but he is
pressing us ever farther back against the sea. We were forced to
throw in our last reserves both in West and East Prussia in order to
hold a firm continuous Une, and that with difficulty. In Courland too
the enemy has launched another major offensive but here he
achieved no success. It is noteworthy that the Soviets are now
withdrawing two armies from the Pomeranian and East Prussian
areas and throwing them in on the Oder front against Berhn. One
may assume, therefore, that the assault on the Reich capital will not
be long in coining. We shall have to take the utmost precautions,
since, having now secured their flank with the capture of
Pomerania, the Soviets will now undoubtedly venture to launch the
assault on Berlin.
(pp. 1-62)
Military Situation.
In contrast to the previous day there were no great changes on the
Eastern Front
In Hungary we improved our positions in a large-scale local
offensive southwards from the western end of Lake Balaton; an
enemy salient jutting west at Marcali was cut off. Strong enemy
attacks on our forward positions reaching out southwards from the
eastern tip of Lake Balaton to the Malom Canal were unsuccessful.
In the area of the enemy break-in between Felsögalla and
Stuhlweissenburg the new line now runs south of Stuhl-
weissenburg westwards to the eastern spur of Bakony Forest,
thence northwards past Kisbar to the west of Hor, then turns east to
Tovaros and thence bends south-east to include Felsögalla whence
it follows the old line debouching on the Gran east of Dorog. Here
the Soviet penetration has gained them 30—40 km of ground on a

front of about 30 km. Bolshevist attempts to widen and deepen the
area of their penetration remained fruitless.
In Slovakia the bolshevists gain a little ground at Altsohl in the
direction of Neusohl.
was very brisk fighting between Leobschütz and
In Silesia there
Neisse. Our was continuously reinforced by German troops
front
fighting their way back on orders. All Soviet attacks on our new line
were beaten off. Attacks in somewhat reduced strength on Breslau
and Glogau were all repulsed. In the Schwarzwasser area too enemy
attacks were in reduced strength and were beaten off without
difficulty Nothing of importance on the adjoining front as far as
Stettin. Enemy pressure continued on the Oder front opposite
Stettin and our forces were withdrawn to the left bank of the Oder
at Stettin to save manpower.
The day's fighting again centred on the Gotenhafen-Danzig area
and the western sector of the East Prussian Bridgehead. In the
21 MARCH 1945 187
Danzig-Gotenhafen sector the enemy made only a little progress

towards Gotenhafen at the price of very heavy casualties; on the
other hand in equally heavy attacks he narrowed the East Prussian
bridgehead considerably. Braunsberg fell into enemy hands. The
line now runs roughly east between Braunsberg and Heiligenbeil
and then south of Heiligenbeil turns north-east. North of Heiligen-
beil the enemy made a deep penetration bringing him almost to the
Frisches Haff; a concentrated counter-attack recaptured the lost
ground. In Courland the enemy made battalion- and regimental-
strength attacks along almost the whole front; they were again
mainly concentrated north-east of Frauenburg. Some of the leading
enemy troops who had advanced across the Libau-Mitau railway
were cut off and annihilated in a converging counter-attack.
On the Western Front fighting was again very violent in the
Remagen bridgehead. The enemy is attacking in strength and
continuously but is meeting considerable German resistance.
Nevertheless the Americans succeeded in gaining ground in both
the northern and southern parts of the bridgehead. The enemy
managed to retain Oberkassel. East of the bridgehead he reached
Oberpleis. The autobahn has now been crossed on a front of 8 km to
a depth of 4-5 km. In the south the enemy advanced along the Rhine
highway as far as Rheinbrohl where one of our combat groups is
encircled. Severe street fighting continues in Koblenz; at this point
we still retain a bridgehead on the left bank of the Rhine which is
now being attacked by the enemy. Niederlahnstcin is under heavy
artillery fire. Meanwhile the enemy reached the Mainz-Alzey road
on a broad front and advanced east through Alzey. From the Kreuz-
nach area the enemy swung north and reached the neighbourhood
of Bingen. Three enemy tanks which entered Bingen were des-
troyed. Moving from Soberrhein and Weisenheim the enemy
reached Kaiserslautern. Fighting is going on in Kaiserslautern. West
of Kaiserslautern a small tongue, bounded on the south by the
Siegfried Line, reaches out to Saarlautern and Saarbrücken. Enemy
detachments were encircled south-east of St Wendel. Enemy
attacks on the Siegfried Line between Saarbrücken, Zweibrücken,
Weissenburg and Lauterburg were fruitless.
There was somewhat brisker British activity in Italy yesterday.
In the East enemy was concentrated on the Dan-
air activity
zig-Gotenhafen and East Prussian areas where numerous Soviet
close-support aircraft were in action. 17 Soviet aircraft were shot
down.
There were sustained air raids over Reich territory yesterday.
Some 400 British four-engined bombers attacked the marshalling
l88 21 MARCH 1945
yards at Hamm together with industrial and transport targets in the

Recklinghausen area. A smaller British specialist formation of 30
aircraft was in action against bridges in the Nienburg area. Hits have
not been reported. About 550 American bombers escorted by 500
fighters attacked primarily industrial and transport targets in
Hemmingstedt. Throughout the day fighter-bombers, low-flying
aircraft and twin-engined bomber formations were very active over
the whole western half of the Reich concentrating on Münsterland,
the Ruhr, the Rhine—Main area and the general area of Stuttgart.
Some 600 four-engined bombers from Italy escorted by about 300
fighters raided Wels, Vienna and its environs. Detached formations
raided transport targets in Amstetten, Wiener Neustadt and
Klagenfurt. Fighters and anti-aircraft shot down 20 enemy aircraft
in all.
During the night 70 Mosquitos made their harassing raid on

BerUn. 30 Mosquitos were over Bremen and another 15 over
Hemmingstedt. In addition there was much long-range night
fighter activity over the whole western half of the Reich. Later in the
night 400 British four-engined bombers attacked industrial targets
in Bohlen and Espenheim. Bombs were also dropped in the Alten-
burg and Halle areas. Fighters and anti-aircraft shot down 15 enemy
during the night.
Our enemies now look upon the city of Köln as a model example of
them in the west German regions they
the difficulties facing
occupy. A number of highly unfavourable circumstances have ari-
sen giving food for thought regarding future developments.
Authoritative British observers, for instance, state that there is now
a danger of Germany becoming Europe's fever-spot and preventing
peace and quiet returning to this part of the world for decades. We
shall do all we can to promote this development since it offers us a
considerable opportunity. We must not allow our continent to
solidifyunder Anglo-American leadership. On the contrary, the
worse things are for us miUtarily, the more will the peoples of the
continent realise that a new order in Europe is only possible under
German leadership.
An
extraordinarily hostile attitude is now emerging in the
enemy-occupied regions, as I had foreseen and foretold. The people
only need a good sleep and release from the scourge of the air war in
order to come to themselves again. Once they have reaUsed the
ignominy of occupation and rations have fallen below the sub-
21 MARCH 1945 189
sistence level, they will turn rebellious against the occupying

powers. In addition there is the total failure of the sanitary arrange-
ments so that a typhus epidemic has already broken out in Köln,
over which Anglo-American pubUcity is positively jubilant.
Merely to prevent their own soldiers being infected - so they say —
they propose to take certain counter-measures.
At certain points on the Western Front our resistance still remains
extraordinarily stiff; the British in particular are very plaintive on
the subject. They had thought that they would now have an easy
time and charge on into Reich territory across the Rhine. Now they
are realising that that is out of the question.
True British and American intentions regarding the Rhine region
are clear from their statements that they propose to form an inde-
pendent Rhineland state. In other words they propose to add one
more to the errors of 191 8, 1919 and 1920. But just as these attempts
failed after the First World War, so they will fail in this Second
World War, particularly since the German people are now ruled
from Berhn not by a democratic republican Jewish government but
by a National-Sociahst one.
Disturbing news comes from America to the effect that the
Americans have copied our V2 weapons and from i April wül be
in a position to fire them at Germany. That would be the last straw.
It would mean that the last German invention produced in this
war would be turned against us. One can imagine the effect
on the German people if German territory was under fire from
V2S.*
A long treatise on present political opinion in America has been
submitted to me. It seems to me to contain much that is credible; it
explains that in general terms the Americans are uninterested in the
continent of Europe; they merely wish to ensure that it does not
unite under a single power because they fear that that would result
in fierceeconomic competition. The Americans have no poUtical
aspirations in Europe. On the one hand they do not want to see a
strong Germany but on the other they do not want too strong a
Soviet Union; the moment, therefore, that the Soviet Union sets
about trying to bring the whole European continent under its sway,
the Americans will oppose them energetically. American friction
with Britain is of a secondary nature only. It creates far more of a
sensation in the press than it really deserves. The Americans have
taken it into their heads to bring about world peace based on
American economic imperialism. In addition they harbour strong
* See above p. 58.

ipO 21 MARCH 1945
messianic aspirations, particularly Roosevelt himself who is urged

on by his Jews for obvious reasons. Roosevelt's policy has been
extraordinarily adroit tactically and he has succeeded in turning
himself from a peace President into a war President without the
Americans taking him to task for it. American national pride has
increased enormously during the war, primarily because the
Americans now have strong military forces in action all over
the world and they have achieved considerable operational success.
For the moment at least bolshevism presents no threat to the
Americans; it would be regarded as un-American and therefore
rejected.
England is quite different. In England the Commune is now
noticeably beginning to stir. It cannot yet be over-active in public
under its real name, but by roundabout means it is trying to bore its
way into the British working masses, primarily by infiltrating the
trade unions. A whole series of strikes in recent weeks and months
were definitely due to communist influence. Churchill's speech to
the Conservative Party Conference appeased the Conservatives in
so far as he largely came out against all plans for socialisation.
Churchill is basically a confirmed Tory, particularly in his
economic views. He has been condemned by fate to put bolshevism
in the saddle in Europe. In a statement to the Commons Churchill
had to defend the present food situation in Britain. He attempted to
disarm criticism of the Americans over this question but was
nevertheless forced to admit that from April onwards the food
position in Britain would be very critical.
I hear from Japan that the air raids so far carried out by the
Americans have achieved considerable success. Admittedly the

Japanese had made themselves to a certain extent invulnerable as far
as war potential is concerned by largely dispersing their arms indus-
try into the country. Nevertheless the damage done to civihan
quarters of Japanese cities by the American raids is already very
considerable. Japan therefore seems to be facing a development
similar to that facing us some two years ago. It is to be hoped that
the damage will teach the Japanese something and that they will
take the necessary counter-measures.
The Soviets are going quietly on deporting Poles to the interior of
Russia. They take not the smallest notice of the Anglo-Americans.
Discussions now going on in Moscow about a reconstruction of the
Polish government have so far been unsuccessful. At the Yalta
Conference, therefore, as we have long suspected, Stalin merely
made a gesture to Churchill and Roosevelt. In fact he has no thought
of making any change in the Lublin Committee.
21 MARCH 1945 191
Fake of national leaders are now being staged in Bucharest

trials
on the Some 250 Rumanians who collaborated with
Sofia model.
us, including Marshal Antonescu, have been brought before a
special tribunal. It is to be hoped that his namesake Mihail
Antonescu* is among them since if anyone deserves to be shot it is
he.
The Soviets are now demanding more severe judicial procedure
in Finland. So far the so-called Finnish war criminals have been dealt
with comparatively leniently, but the Kremlin now seems to have
had enough of this.
Fresh news comes from Moscow. The Kremlin has revoked its
treaty of friendship and non-aggression with Turkey. The reason
given is extraordinarily interesting and original. The Kremlin
declares that it is interested in retaining a soUd relationship of
friendship with Turkey; circumstances have changed with the war,
however, and so the relationship between the Soviet Union and
Turkey must be revised accordingly. Expressed differently this
means that Stalin thinks the moment has now come to lay hands on
the Dardanelles. Turkey has therefore reaped no advantage from
declaring war on us at the Anglo-American behest and con-
sequently appearing as a belhgerent power. The Kremlin has not
allowed itself to be affected by this at all.
For the moment the situation on the Eastern Front gives an
impression of greater soÜdity. I hear that Himmler wishes to give
up his Army Group Vistula and he should do so. Himmler's job,
after all, was merely to plug a hole in the area of Army Group
Vistula as best he could. Unfortunately he allowed himself to be
diverted by the quest for miUtary laurels, in which, however, he
failed totally. He can only tarnish his good poHtical reputation this
way.
The number killed in air raids up to December inclusive is
reported as 3 53 ,000 - a horrifying figure which becomes even more
when one adds the 457,000 wounded. This is a war within a
terrible
war, sometimes more frightful than the war at the front. The
homeless are simply innumerable. The air war has turned the Reich
into one great heap of ruins. In the last 24 hours a further crazy series
of air raids has been reported, particularly on the west of the
Reich.
* Mihail Antonescu was Foreign Minister in Marshal Ion Antonescu's

govern-
ment and had made secret approaches to the West. Both Ion and Mihail Antonescu
were executed in 1946. In Bulgaria, the Regent, Prince Kyril, and other poUticians
who had collaborated with the Germans, had already been tried and executed.
192 21 MARCH 1945
I have before me a shattering report by Gauleiter Hoffmann from
Westphaha South. He says that pubUc Ufe is no longer possible in his

Gau. Traffic is paralysed and people can no longer move about on
the streets. The economy is at a standstill. Coal is neither being
produced nor moved. Even the smallest defensive measures are
nowhere to be seen. One can imagine the effect on the people's
morale. Hoffmann is quite right when he says that people would
be happy if at least some
of defensive activity could be
trace
seen. But this is not the case. The memorandum is one long
indictment of Goring and the Luftwaffe. It will now be submitted
to the Führer.
I have a long talk with MüUer from Oslo about his mission in the
West.* I give him full plenary powers, in particular authority to

give instructions direct to Reich Propaganda Offices throughout
the West. I make it clear to him that he cannot expect provision of
large-scale additional resources from Berlin. He must try to help
himself by improvising; in my view, however, this will be an
advantage rather than the reverse for the propaganda which he has
to issue. His previous activities have given him so much experience
in this field that it will not be difficult for him to make do with
makeshifts. Müller is tackling his task with great elan. I think he will
get on top of it.
At midday I receive 20 members of the Hitler Youth who have
won the Iron Cross during the fighting in the East. They make an
excellent impression. A people which has youngsters like this avail-
able at a time like this cannot, according to the laws of history, go
under.
The latest film statistics are still very good
from the various Gaus
despite all the difficulties. surprising that the German people
It is
still wants to go to the cinema at all. Nevertheless in general terms

this is the case.
The evening'sreport on the day's military development shows
purposes, we have lost the Saar. Our troops
that, for all practical
could not be kept there any longer and have now had to be with-
drawn. Loss of the Saar territory will of course have the most
serious economic consequences. It means the loss of our last intact
coalfield. One can imagine what that implies. The situation in the
Linz bridgehead has also become definitely critical. Admittedly the
Americans have not broken through but they are keeping up pres-
sure on all sides of the bridgehead and there is always the danger that
they will break through the front somewhere,
* Sec above 184.

p.
21 MARCH 1945 193
In the East fighting flows back and forth all the time but with no
major change in the situation.
In the evening I paid a couple of hours' visit to the Reich Chan-
cellery to have another exhaustive talk with the Führer. I first had an
interview with Hewel who briefed me on the Foreign Office's
present efforts to start talks with any one of our enemies. As we
know, Hesse's attempt in Stockholm failed totally. Hesse had any-
way behaved thoroughly ineptly. He never negotiated direct with
the British, only through certain Swedes whom he knew, though
they did pass on his views direct to the British. The British envoy in
Stockholm was prepared to discuss direct with Hesse but Hesse
could not pluck up courage to do so. In this connection it is interest-
ing that all reference to Hesse's talks ceased in England within 24
hours since Churchill cannot at present do with any peace talk in
view of the war-weariness of the whole British people.
At the moment there is a high-ranking man from the Soviet
Union in Stockholm and he has expressed a wish to enter into talks
with a German. In principle we need not be averse to making use of
such an opportunity. Nevertheless the present moment is as bad a
choice as it could be. I think, however, that it would be as well at
least to talk to the Soviet Union's representative. But the Führer
does not wish to. The Führer thinks that for the present it would be
a sign of weakness if we were to meet the enemy's wishes on this
point. My view is that the enemy knows that we are weak anyway
and that readiness to negotiate will not tell him anything he does not
know already. But the Führer will not be persuaded. He thinks that
talks with a leading Soviet representative would merely encourage
the British and Americans to be even more forthcoming to Stalin
and negotiations would end in a complete flop. Maybe the Führer is
right. He has always had a good feel for these matters and we can
entrust ourselves to him completely. It is a pity, however, that in
this critical situation we have to go on waiting without knowing
whither military developments will lead us in the next two or three
weeks.
I make no bones about it to Hewel that it is primarily Rib-
bentrop's fault that we have been plunged into such a situation. He

ought to have made such proposals to the Führer on top priority far
sooner than this, at a time when we still had something to throw
into the scales in negotiation. Ribbentrop, however, remained
rigid and obstinate. He neither sought nor found allies among
his colleagues and so got nowhere when he put the question to
the Führer; the first time he was turned down he hauled down
his flag.
194 21 MARCH 1945
Hewel voiced extraordinarily severe criticism of the conduct of

theGerman Luftwaffe. What he said on this subject is well known
and produces nothing new. He is very unhappy, however, that the
Führer cannot be persuaded to make some change in the command
of the Luftwaffe. This is in fact lamentable, for the psychological
effect on the Luftwaffe itself of a personnel change at command
level would be colossal.
I then have a two-hour talk with the Führer who makes a very
weary and worn-out impression on me after all the exertion and

agitation of recent days. His general attitude of mind, however, is
still exemplary. He is a shining example of steadfastness of spirit to
all his staff One has the impression that he is only kept going by his
iron will. The impression this makes on someone who has been
associated with him for years is really moving.
The Führer is somewhat despairing about military develop-
ments. In particular he had not thought that we should reach such an
extraordinarily calamitous situation in the West. He tells me that the
course of events has vexed him very much. Even my historical
examples do not make much impression on him this time.
As far as the West is concerned, the Führer admits frankly that in
practice the Saar territory can no longer be held and that we must
evacuate it. Kesselring was appointed too late and he could not do
much to change the course of events. The Führer thinks that, despite
20 July, a certain clique of traitors is still active in the West. This can
be the only explanation for the fact that the extremely heavily
fortified region of Trier fell into enemy hands without a fight. I
dispute this. I think that the Führer is explaining away these events
too easily. I think that instead this can be ascribed to the fact that our
troops and their commanders no longer have the will to fight,
that they have lost all courage because they have to submit in so
depressing a fashion to enemy air superiority every day and every
night, so that they can no longer see any prospect of victory. The
Führer, on the other hand, is of the opinion that certain mihtary
commanders are still toying with a plan for making common cause
with the Western Allies against the Soviets and that they are trying
to bring this plan about by giving way. However idiotic and absurd
this plan may seem, it is nevertheless possible that it has entered the
heads of some of our politically inexperienced mihtary com-
manders.
Rundstedt's leadership in the West was definitely bad. Rundstedt
is too old and too inflexible. The Führer had actually wanted to
remove him months ago and replace him by Kesselring; then,

however, Kesselring unfortunately had a car accident which kept
21 MARCH 1945 195
him from active command for weeks. The Führer did not wish to
appoint Model in place of Rundstedt because he thought him too
impetuous and impulsive, which is in fact the case.
I suggest to the Führer that mihtary developments in the West can
under no circumstances be allowed to proceed on present lines. If, for

instance, the Americans succeed in breaking out of the Linz
bridgehead, we should be plunged into a tragic situation. The Führer
has opposed the enemy's repeated attempts to break out with
everything he has available. He thinks, moreover, that Model will
succeed in dealing with the situation. In any case no more can be
done than has been done. The Führer himself, however, has become
somewhat doubtful whether the bridgehead can be contained in the
long run. Admittedly the Americans have suffered extraordinarily
severe casualties but they can afford them at the moment. One
shudders to think that neglect of their duty by one or two officers
has led to such a threat; it is all the more justifiable that they were
condemned to death by court martial and shot.
I submit urgently to the Führer that our troops in the West are no
longer fighting properly. Their morale has suffered badly and as a

result they no longer have the urge to resist so essential in this
critical situation. The morale of the population has also naturally
sunk very low, if it has not already reached zero. Of course it would
rise again the moment we could report any sort of mihtary success
in the West. The people now want to see at least some glimmer of
light on the dark horizon of this war. But at the moment such a
thing is nowhere to be seen.
In the enemy-occupied areas a certain change of mood is already
noticeable and it comes at the moment when stern cruel facts are
making themselves felt. Hunger has made people think. The

Americans are in no position to deal with the rationing problem as
we did because there must be a system of administration and
punishment in the background and this the Americans cannot
impose. As a result a black market is begirming to appear, in sharp
contrast to the orderly arrangements which we had hitherto main-
tained in the food market.
The Führer considers the best piece of recent news to be that at the
Yalta Conference Roosevelt conceded to Stalin that German pris-
oners from the West should be deported to the Soviet Union as
slave labour. These and similar reports will undoubtedly contribute
to raising the fighting morale of our troops, for we must, after all,
stand somewhere in the West. It is quite intolerable that movement
in the West should remain fluid. If we now lose the Saar territory,
we have no alternative but to seek to defend the Rhine front as a
196 21 MARCH 1945
whole. Here again there is this miserable Linz bridgehead which is

an obstacle to the attainment of this objective.
Again and again we return to the starting-point of our con-
versation. Our whole miHtary predicament is due to enemy air
superiority. Co-ordinated conduct of the war is no longer in prac-
tice possible in the Reich. The necessary transport and com-
munications are no longer available to us. Not only our cities but
also our industry have largely been demolished. The result is a deep
dent in German war morale. People in the western provinces no
longer get any sleep and so become nervous, hysterical and irritable.
The results can be calculated on the fingers of one hand. In short the
situation has become more or less intolerable and we must do our
utmost to score a victory, even if only a modest one, in some
military field and so bring the people to heel again.
Then once more my talk with the Führer turns into an exhaustive
discussion of the air war. The Führer has just had an interview with
Colonel Baumbach who briefed him on our new jet aircraft. The
Führer now places extraordinary hopes on these jet aircraft. He even
refers to them as instruments of German destiny. He thinks that
with these aircraft it should be possible to overcome the enemy's air
superiority at least defensively. Even he, however, adds that he
hopes they have not come too late. It is shortly before twelve - if the
hands of the clock have not already passed midnight.
Everything the Führer says about the Luftwaffe is one long
indictment of Goring. Yet he cannot bring himself to take a decision
about Goring personally. As a result his complainings are
thoroughly unsatisfactory since they lead to no follow-up action. I
tell him as much quite frankly. The people do not know what the
Führer thinks of the Luftwaffe. Consequently his grievances against

the Luftwaffe are of no psychological value. But the Führer remains
obdurate in his point of view. I do not succeed in achieving anything
whatsoever with him. For the moment he still cUngs to Goring,
although his criticisms of him as a man and as regards his work are
sharper than anything I have ever heard him say about any member
of his staff His criticism was voiced in the severest terms but, as I
have said, for the present nothing eventuates as a result. I remind the
Führer how Frederick the Great acted in such cases, how he dealt
with August Wilhelm, his own brother and successor to the Prus-
sian throne, when he brought his army back from Zittau in a
wretched state. Even this example, however, fails to impress the
Führer. He says that circumstances in the Seven Years War were
different from those of today and that in the present phase of the war
he cannot afford to make so sweeping a change of personnel. In
21 MARCH 1945 197
addition he has no one available who could replace Goring. That is
just not true. We have at least a dozen men who would certainly do
better than Goring is doing today.
The Führer then of the bison shot
refers to the unfortunate affair
by Goring for the benefit of evacuees. * This business has stirred up a
great deal of mud and caused Goring much embarrassment. Even
this, however, has not served to get things on the move. There is no
need to emphasise further what the Führer thinks of Goring as a
man. He has now just gone off with two special trains to visit his
wife in the Obersalzberg. It is horrifying to think that the man
responsible for the German Luftwaffe can now fmd the time to
attend to his personal affairs. The Führer is highly critical of
Gritzbach, Göring's personal adviser who, he says, lacks any form
of psychological refinement; he is equally critical of Ondarza,
Göring's doctor, who is a typical dandy and gigolo and whom I

would not tolerate around me for five minutes.
Everything the Führer says is quite right. Yet again, however, it
must be emphasised that it produces no effect since no consequences
are drawn therefrom.
The Führer was much encouraged by his interview with Colonel
Baumbach. He placets the greatest hopes on the new jet aircraft.
During this month 500 will be produced and next month 1000.
Runways are being laid using a very large labour force. All this the
Führer has to arrange personally since Goring hardly bothers any
more. The Führer's thoughts continually revolve around the ques-
tion whether these aircraft have not come too late for them to make
any impact. The enemy is proving completely inexorable in aerial
warfare. He is going all out, disregarding material losses but con-
serving his manpower. The effects of the air war are obvious not
only on the civil population but also on the men of the Luftwaffe.
Neglect, for which Goring is to blame, is destroying primarily his
own arm of the service.
Everything the Führer says in this connection is already known to
me. They are the well-worn complaints invariably ending in the
statement that Goring is totally inadequate and incompetent but
that no successor for him can be found and, even if he were, no
successor can be nominated. I make the proposal that Dönitz be put
in his place, but the Führer thinks that Dönitz has so much to do
with his U-boats that he could not cope with the Luftwaffe at the
same time.
I cite to the Führer certain examples of the exaggerated luxury in
* Sec above p. 183.

198 21 MARCH 1945
which the Luftwaffe Uves. As a result of this luxury our fighter

pUots have become pampered. They spend more time in the mess
than on training and have become timorous and useless as a result of
good hving. The Führer thinks that the pilots of our new jet aircraft
will be more suitable since they will be in action against the enemy
more than our fighters. The Führer is confirmed in his opinion by
the fact that people Hke Baumbach, who has hitherto been sharply
opposed to the strategy of the Luftwaffe, are now placing their
hopes in these jet aircraft. One fortunate feature of the new jet
aircraft is that they do not require high-grade fuel but can fly
practically on dirty water. As a result we shall soon be on top of the
fuel problem. The peculiar logic of air force technical development
dictates that the speed of petrol-driven aircraft cannot be increased
further but that the new type ofjet aircraft can reach a speed 200 km
greater.
The Führer is very angry at the fact that our fighters are now
using good weather as an excuse for failure to take off They always
have new excuses for failing to go into action against the enemy.
The reason is that the whole Service is corrupt and it is corrupt
because its Commander-in-Chief is corrupt.
I rage inwardly when I think that, despite all the good reasons and
arguments, it is not possible to persuade the Führer to make a

change here. But what am I to do? I cannot do more than go on
tirelessly urging the Führer and bringing my criticism to his notice.
Inwardly I am facing a severe crisis of conscience. I know well that
the Luftwaffe can never be revived under Goring. Equally I know
well that the Luftwaffe will lead to the loss of the war and the ruin of
the German people if it continues to be run as it is at present. I know
well that our fronts cannot be defended unless we can sweep the
skies clear ... [11 hnes illegible].
. even Sepp Dietrich is not in the
.
top class. He is a good troop commander but no strategist.

The Führer is extraordinarily pleased with the anti-bolshevist
propaganda we are issuing. It has already had the effect of putting
our troops in the East back into comparatively good form.
My proposal to bolster the front by stationing replacement units
in the rear areas has made a great impact on the Führer. He has now
given instructions that all rear areas be furnished with replacement
units and they are already on the move. So one of my ideas about the
conduct of total war has been implemented one hundred per cent.
I tell the Führer about his visit to Ninth Army and the report
made to me on the subject by Captain Krüger.* The Führer is very
* See above p. 146-

1
21 MARCH 1945 199
pleased with this report. I also tell him of the visit I received this
morning from Hitler Youth winners of the Iron Cross. These
youngsters had made a very deep and gratifying impression on the
Führer too.
As far as the poHtical situation is concerned, the Führer remains
firm in his view that the turning point of the war will come in some
way this year. The enemy coahtion will break up whatever hap-
pens; the only question is whether it does so before we are flat on the
floor or only after we are flat. Under all circumstances, therefore,
we must ensure that no miÜtary disaster takes place before this
moment arrives.
TheSoviet pressure on Turkey gives the Führer further hope,
since this pressure is undoubtedly most unwelcome to the British, if
not to the Americans as well.
People in Britain are at the moment preoccupied with an extra-
ordinary food crisis, an indication that internal conditions in Eng-
land are much worse than we had generally thought. The British are
being taken in, not only by the Soviets but also by the Americans.
The Führer has heard, for instance, that Franco proposes to declare
war on Japan in order to gain a good mark from America. At heart
Franco realises that it is now no good playing the British card and he
is relying more on America.
As as the hoped-for collapse of the enemy coahtion is
far
concerned, the Führer thinks that this is more Ukely to come from
Stalin than from Churchill and Roosevelt. StaHn is a marked
realist and so from our point of view there is more to be done with
him than the others. The Führer is incHned to think that the San
Francisco Conference will never take place. The conflict in the
enemy camp will have become so intense by that time that they
will-not dare parade their differences. I think this view is illusory -
beUeve that the San Francisco Conference will take place all the
same - nevertheless it is possible that it will end in a collossal
disaster.
In all these talks about politics we invariably come back to our
starting point: that we must the front and if possible
hold firm at
score a victory in order to start talking to the enemy. The prior
condition for this, however, is that we sweep our skies clear. This
the Führer admits; the final conclusion, however, is the one he still
namely that we can only sweep the sky
contests, clear if we have a
new Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe.
Towards the end of our talk Speer arrives. He has been in the
West and has a fearful story to tell. It is no longer possible to drive
along country roads in the West without being attacked by
200 21 MARCH I945
fighter-bombers. Enemy air superiority is such that we camiot even

move by car along our own country roads.
While we are talking to the Führer British Mosquitos raid the
capital yet again.
When I reach home the house is in total darkness. The electricity
supply has been damaged again. A gloomy and fairly melancholy
evening. Magda has gone to Dresden to visit Frau von Arent. At
such times one can get really depressed, mainly when one mulls
over and over the question: What am I to do in order to insist on
what I know to be right? I feel a great moral and national obUgation
towards the German people because I am one of the few who still
has the Führer's ear. Every use must be made of such an oppor-
tunity. But no one can do more than I am doing.
I spoke to the Führer today in totally frank terms such as I have
seldom in my hfe used to him before. But, as I have said, with no

sign of success at the moment.
(pp. 1—29, 9 and 17 omitted in page-numbering)

Military Situation.
On the Eastern Front the main centres of activity were in Hungary,
the Danzig area, at HeiUgenbeil and in Courland.
In Hungary the Bolshevists reinforced the areas where they had
penetrated and extended the front of their offensive. At the eastern
comer of Lake Balaton they reached the Siofok—Stuhl weissenburg
railway. West of Stuhl weissenburg and between that place and Hor
in the Bakony Forest the enemy advanced about lO km. North of
Kisber he crossed the Kisber-Komorn railway and north of
Tovaros reached the Raab-Budapest road and railway. The Soviets
attacked our forward positions south of the Danube capturing
Gran. North of the Danube they were able to estabHsh themselves
on the west bank of the Gran.
In Slovakia the enemy succeeded in penetrating to a depth of 2 km
south of Neusohl.
The new front Une was further reinforced between Leobschiitz
and Neisse. Attacks on the new Hne were repulsed as were those on
Breslau and Glogau.
Soviet reconnoitring patrols advanced on either side of Frankfurt
on Oder but achieved nothing.
Enemy attacks on Danzig, Gotenhafen and HeiHgenbeil, again
with strong close air support, were extraordinarily heavy. Losses on
both sides were considerable. Both bridgeheads were further
reduced by local break-ins to a depth of i-ii kms.
In Courland the enemy reinforced his major offensive on either
side of Frauenburg. About looo Soviet aircraft were in action in
support of his ground troops. In general, however, all attacks were
repulsed.
In the West the Americans succeeded in extending their Rhine
bridgehead somewhat northwards, southwards and eastwards. In
the north the enemy moved through Oberkassel and reached the
202 22 MARCH I945
vicinityof Siegburg. In the hills east of Remagen they were able to

advance to the vaUey of the Wied. Enemy detachments advancing
across the Wied were thrown back at once. In the south of the
bridgehead the enemy made a small penetration towards Neuwied;
he was held about 6 km north-west of Neuwied. It is suspected that
the enemy intends to move north from the bridgehead towards the
Ruhr and that, in co-ordination with this, airborne landings will be
made north of the Ruhr. Airborne landings in the Erft area are also
considered possible.
Yesterday's fighting centred on the Rheinhesse area, where the
enemy made considerable gains of ground. Fighting is still going on
in Bingen. The enemy has penetrated into the western suburbs of
Mainz. Farther south there is still a German bridgehead at
Obenheim but it is now under pressure. Nierstein fell into enemy
hands. Street fighting is going on in Worms. Moving through
Frankenthal the enemy penetrated into Oppau reaching the hyd-
rogenation plant. He is in the western suburbs of Ludwigshafen
where he is held up by a newly constructed German switch pos-
ition. House-to-house fighting is also taking place in Neustadt and
Bad Dürkheim. Reports, so far unconfirmed, state that leading
enemy tanks are in Annweiler. Our narrow saUent jutting west as
far as Saarlautern and Saarbrücken is being evacuated on orders.
Enemy air activity was very extensive both over the fronts and
over Reich territory. Some iioo American four-engined bombers
attacked Plauen and Reichenbach. A smaller British formation
raided the Bremen and Münster areas. During the afternoon 250
four-engined bombers attacked targets in the Rheine area and 120
American four-engined bombers raided Mülheim in the Ruhr.
About 600 American four-engined bombers from Italy attacked
Vienna, Graz, Brück an der Mur and ViUach. Bombs were also
dropped in Bavaria. Throughout the day some [figures illegible]
twin-engined bombers and fighters were active over the whole
western half of the Reich concentrating mainly on transport targets
[nearly 4 hnes illegible]. Mosquitos were over Bremen . 200
. .
British four-engined bombers raided Hamburg and some 150

British four-engined bombers the Witten-Langendreer area.
Thirty-one "Sturmvögel" shot down 11 enemy. Anti-aircraft shot
down 20 enemy aircraft. During the night 28 fighters were in action
and shot down 6 of the enemy. Anti-aircraft shot down 4 enemy
aircraft during the night.
22 MARCH 1945 203
The military situation both in East and West has become extra-
ordinarily critical; during the course of the last 24 hours it has
changed noticeably to our disadvantage. Not only are we making
no progress in Hungary but the enemy has launched a counter-
attack on a broad front and our previous gains of ground have
largely become illusory. In places he has passed our starting line. So
the Führer's plans to make good the whole line of the Danube have
come to nothing and we must now take the greatest care that we do
not lose our Rumanian* oilfields as well. That would have the most
disastrous consequences for the whole German conduct of the war.
In the Berlin area the Soviets have now
launched an admittedly
an attempt to
local but nevertheless extraordinarily violent attack in
cut off our Küstrin bridgehead. As a result I cannot make my
planned visit to 51 Corps. General Busse asks for the visit to be
postponed until next week since the situation is very obscure at the
moment in the area I was to visit and every officer is urgently
needed.
As far as the West is concerned, the situation in the bridgehead
has become extraordinarily menacing. Despite our large-scale
counter-measures the Americans are continuously extending the
bridgehead in all directions. Our counter-measures could not get
under way because our lines were under uninterrupted attack by
enemy fighter-bombers. So here again the Luftwaffe is to blame for
the extraordinary crisis with which we are faced at the moment.
The threat remains that the Americans may succeed in breaking out
of the bridgehead and one can imagine what the consequences of
that would be for us. A flood of material concentrated in this
running sore would then pour out over the surrounding
countryside. In such an eventuaUty we should be unable to stop the
enemy's armoured thrusts. Everything depends, therefore, on
whether the Americans, who have so far scored only tactical vic-
tories, can achieve a break-through. Naturally everything is being
done on our side to prevent this but the ratio of forces is such that
the situation is on a knife-edge, to say nothing of the position in the
Rhrne-Saar area. Here our troops are conducting a desperate rear-
guard action since otherwise they run the risk of being completely
cut off. A fortnight ago towns now being mentioned in the OKW
report would not have been in the news even in one's wildest
dreams, an indication of the extraordinarily severe crisis which has
developed for us in the West. The Anglo-Americans have good
reason to think themselves at the height of their triumph. Reuters
* Presumably a slip for Hungarian oilfields. See below p. 245.

204 22 MARCH I945
are already saying that the war's finale is now being played. Every-
thing takes time, however, and it is not true to say that the columns
of refugees allegedly hurrying eastwards from the West and west-
wards from the East are proving such ah obstacle to miHtary
movement that we are no longer in a position to make any dis-
positions. The reasons are quite different. The main one is that the
transport system, particularly in the West, has been smashed so
completely that it is practically impossible to move troops by rail on
anyeven semi-reliable time-table. Whether the battle of Remagen
will help the Americans - as they say it will — to estabHsh themselves
on a broad front on the right bank of the Rhine, depends - as I have
already said - on a number of other eventuahties. In any case it is
clear that we are offering extraordinarily stubborn resistance at this
point. Model is on the spot himself to direct operations.
Our Western enemies now reaUse that at present there is no
question of a collapse in morale on the part either of the German
people or the German front.
My war propaganda is now being eulogised quite openly in
London. It is being said that it is the most exemplary of all the war
efforts being made anywhere today and that it is primarily respons-
ible for the fact that German resistance is so much in evidence, even
though on a reduced and enfeebled scale.
In rear of the Anglo-American front, of course, the outlook is
miserable. Not much is to be heard from the German regions at
present because the enemy has imposed a news black-out. Reading
the news from France, however, one can more or less imagine what
things are Hke. The French people are facing sheer starvation.
Processions wend their way through every city protesting against
the government but also against Anglo-American occupation. But
what is the good of that? If there is no bread available, they can
demonstrate as much as they Hke; they will not be rescued from the
consequences of the bread shortage, however.
In England too the food crisis has now reached most serious
proportions. PubUc opinion is furious over the forthcoming reduc-
tions in the ration now being promised the British people. Chur-
chill's speech in the Commons could in no way alleviate pubÜc
discontent. On the contrary he voiced loud complaints particularly
against the Americans for their ruthlessness over the question of
food shipments from the USA to Britain.
The political situation in the enemy coaÜtion is developing just as
we would wish. Eden was forced to admit in the Commons that San
Francisco offered the last chance for the enemy coalition. If this
chance was not seized, then the world would inevitably sink into
22 MARCH 1945 205
chaos. It is interesting that in this speech Eden admitted that the aim
of England's poHcy always has been and still is never to allow any
one Power to dominate Europe. This was the reason, of course, for
the British declaration of war in 1939. It is therefore incom-
prehensible that she should now accept without protest the increase
of Soviet domination over large parts of Europe. Eden was also
forced to admit that Great Britain no longer possesses the mastery
of the seas. She has Churchill to thank for losing it since the rise of
American dominance of the oceans is due to this accursed war, into
which Churchill has led the British Empire. The results of this war
in all countries — including Britain — were described in vivid terms.
In any case it is noticeable that a sort of world catastrophe attitude
of mind has spread among the British public. There is no pure
rejoicing over their military victories in the West.
At a press conference Roosevelt refused to commit himself on
any date for victory. Obviously our stiff resistance in the West, now
making itself felt at various points, has given him to think.
A strong upsurge of anti-semitism is reported from the USA.
The Jews are waiUng about it to high heaven. It is even being said
that, in certain parts of the United States, no one wants to hear
criticism of Axis poHcy. Isolationism is raising its head again.
Moreover Colonel Lindbergh is becoming active in poUtics again.
The USA and Britain are allegedly exerting pressure on the
KremHn in the matter of negotiations over the Polish government.
On this question the KremHn is showing itself extraordinarily
unyielding and is even refusing to accept the Anglo-American
proposal that Mikolajczyk be accepted onto the Lublin Committee.
Stalin is submitting Roosevelt and Churchill to a very severe test,
but in the present war situation he can obviously afford to.
Over the question of the abrogation of the Turkish treaty the
KremHn also acted without giving prior notice to Britain, as
London admits. No secret is now made of the fact that, with the
abrogation of the Turkish treaty, the KremHn intends to tackle the
Dardanelles problem. The Turkish declaration of war on Germany,
therefore, was of no advantage to her. In this question too StaHn is
exploiting a favourable moment. He knows very weU that things
will not be so favourable in the foreseeable future.
The British have now plucked up courage to execute Lord
Moyne's murderers. * Jewry is highly indignant. It has suffered a
defeat here, for it thought that it could exert pressure to prevent this
execution.
* Lord Moyne, British Minister of State in Cairo, had been murdered by Zionist
fanatics (since canonised by the state of Israel) on 6 November 1944.
206 22 MARCH I945
As an oddity it is worth noting in passing that at the great staged

Sofia two priests declared with tears in their eyes that they
trials in
were present when the Katyn graves* were opened and were forced
to make statements favouring us and blaming the Soviets. That is a
cowardly impudent He but, priest or not, a man will do anything to
save his skin.
Graf Krosigk sends me a long letter explaining that we must now
pursue a more positive policy towards Russia and one more likely
to succeed. We ... [3 Hnes illegible] Graf Krosigk is extra-
. . .
ordinarily naive over this question. If only he knew how I have had
to struggle over pohcy towards Russia and how ... [4 Unes illegible]
... in Zurich turn into a first-class poHtical dispute. Bourgeois
Switzerland is torn by this problem. She is slowly beginning to
realise that there can be no question of freedom of thought under
pressure from the street.
It is hardly worth recording the daily series of air raids which
thunders down on the Reich hour by hour. There is hardly any

defence to be seen. One can imagine what the effect is on public
opinion.
'
The Führer has again issued a categorical order that western
regions threatened by the enemy are to be evacuated. In practice this
order simply cannot be carried out because people just will not go
and we have no forces available to compel them to do so. There is no
one either in the Ministry of the Interior or the Party Chancellery
who has the courage to tell the Führer this to his face. So the
problem is allowed to sUde, in other words one marks time, natur-
ally dealing a severe blow to the prestige of the authorities in the
process.
The situation in Danzig has become fairly horrifying. Diewerger
gives me a detailed report on the subject. Danzig is accommodating
a vastmass of refugees and the available space is naturally becoming
smaller all the time. Forster gave early warning against bringing so
many East Prussians into Danzig but no other possibiHty was open
to us for their evacuation.
I am working with my staff on a fundamental reorganisation of
the Army Medical Service. The allocation of doctors to units has

remained totally unchanged despite the shrinkage of the
• The graves in which the Russians buried some 4,500 Polish officers whom they
had murdered. The graves were discovered by the Germans in 1943, when they had
invaded Russia. Goebbels exploited the fact in his propaganda (see The Goebbels
Diaries, pp. 245 foil.) but having lost credibility, was not believed even when he
spoke truth. The Russians pretended that the Poles had been murdered by the
Germans.
22 MARCH 1945 207
Wehrmacht. As a result the Wehrmacht has of doctors,

a surplus
whereas of them. We are
in civil hfe there is the greatest shortage
therefore working to obtain the release of considerable numbers of
doctors from the Wehrmacht. On a proposal from Professor
Ratzschow* medical officers in the Wehrmacht must be sent on
retraining courses. They consist largely of medical students or
doctors' assistants who have naturally not had much practice in
medicine.
Since my visit to the Oder front cannot take place owing to the
military situation in the Küstrin area, I have a free day in which to
catch up on all the reading matter which has piled up and remained
unread hitherto.
In the evening General Busse t rings me and tells me that the first
day in the Küstrin area has gone off very satisfactorily. He hopes
that he can counter Soviet attempts at encirclement. But one must
wait for the next few days to see how matters develop further.
In the evening we have our usual Mosquito raid on Berhn, which
however this time does somewhat less damage than has recently
been the case.
* Professor of Medicine at Halle University.

t In command of 9th Army, on Eastern Front.
FRIDAY 23 MARCH 1945
(pp. 1-32)
Military Situation.
On the Eastern Front fighting again centred on Hungary, Silesia,
the Danzig— Gotenhafen area and at Heiligenbeil,
In Hungary the enemy was able to advance between Kisber and
Veszprem as far as the eastern spur of Bakony Forest. He is now east
of Veszprem. Our counter-attacks between Kisber and Tovaros
drove the enemy back some distance. The Soviets made converging
attacks on the salient south of the Danube which runs from
Tovaros, south of Bannida and Felsögalla to the vicinity of Gran.
They captured Bannida and Felsögalla and pressed the salient back a
little towards the Danube.
In Slovakia the enemy pursued his concentrated local attacks

between Altsohl and Neusohl. The situation remained generally
unchanged.
In Silesia the Soviets launched a major offensive in the Bauer-
witz-Leobschütz-Neustadt area aimed at the Mährisch— Ostrau
region. All attacks were repulsed with extraordinarily severe losses
in men and material to the enemy — in this sector alone 143 Soviet
tanks were destroyed; on the first day of the enemy's major offen-
sive, therefore, a complete defensive victory has been scored all
along the line. An extension of Soviet attacks from the
Schwarzwasser area must be anticipated. So far only attacks in
regimental strength have been made here and all were repulsed.
Enemy attacks on Breslau and Glogau again failed.
North-west and south-west of Küstrin the bolshevists moved
out of their bridgehead with the intention of cutting off Küstrin and
They employed six Rifle Divisions (about
annihilating the garrison.
20,000 men) and two tank brigades (about 70 tanks) of which 55
were destroyed. We were able to keep the approaches to Küstrin
open.
In the Danzig— Gotenhafen area and at Heiligenbeil the enemy
.
23 MARCH 1945 209
continued his attacks in strength. At Heiligenbeil all attacks

remained fruitless but between Gotenhafen and Zoppot the enemy
succeeded in reaching the Gulf of Danzig. He also penetrated
as far as the western edge of OHva. All other attacks on the
Danzig—Gotenhafen enclave were repulsed with bloody losses
to the Soviets. In Samland enemy troop concentrations presage an
imminent offensive.
In Courland our troops scored a complete defensive victory
against the Bolshevists attacking in great strength. One Soviet
division was cut off and faces annihilation.
On the Western Front the Americans continued to attack heavily
in the Remagen bridgehead but were unable to extend it further. In
the north they could only reach a point just south of Siegburg where
fighting is in progress on the southern outskirts of the town. On the
southern side of the bridgehead the enemy could only make minor
local advances near Leutesdorf. The enemy made no progress east-
wards.
The Americans have penetrated into the city of Mainz. They are
now in control of the whole bank of the Rhine from Koblenz to
north of Ludwigshafen. On the western edge of Ludwigshafen .
[8 Unes illegible] ... so th^t the greater part of the Pfalz Forest
including Pirmasens is still in our hands. Troops from the Saar
territory, who withdrew according to orders have meanwhile
reached our lines in the Pfalz Forest area bringing most of their
equipment with them. West of Pirmasens the new front runs along
the Siegfried Line to Lauterburg. Attacks on the Siegfried Line were
all repulsed.
According to various reports from the northern sector of the
Western Front Montgomery's airborne divisions are now ready to
jump.
No special reports to hand from the Itahan front.
Enemy air activity in the Eastern Front zone was very brisk. A
total of 33 Soviet aircraft was shot down yesterday.
Over the Western Front zone too there was sustained activity by
enemy low-flying aircraft, fighter-bombers and twin-engined
bombers.
Over Reich territory 1200 American four-engined bombers
escorted by 700 fighters together with several British formations —
totalHng about 550 four-engined bombers with 400 fighters as
escort — attacked Münsterland, the Ruhr and the Siegen area.
Among other places Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Gelsenkirchen, Essen,
Bochum, Hildesheim, Bremen and Oldenburg were attacked.
About 600 four-engined bombers flew in from Italy in two
210 23 MARCH I945
groups. The first made an attack on Vienna with isolated bombs

dropped on Graz. The second group attacked Schwarzheide and
Lauterburg. During the night harassing raids were made on Beriin
and Paderborn. The enemy mined the German Bight. About 100
British bombers from Italy raided Villach.
During the day fighters shot down 15 enemy and anti-aircraft 23.
During the night one enemy aircraft was shot down by fighter and
another three by anti-aircraft.
The British have thought up a very naive explanation for the

appointment of Kesselring. They think that he has been com-
missioned by the Führer to make preparations for German capitu-
lation. Naturally the opposite is the case. Kesselring will need some
time, however, and above all troops and equipment if he is to clear
up the situation in the West. As things stand at present it is almost a
matter of impossibility to re-create an absolutely firm stable front in
the West.
The speed with which the enemy works is to be seen from the fact
thatAnglo-American bomber formations are now taking off from
German airfields. Our withdrawal, of course, was so rapid that we
could hardly destroy anything. The enemy was able to take over all
our airfield installations in working order.
"Exterminate the German people and as quickly as possible
including the women and children," is now the cry reaching us
from England. The British war agitators have still not yet come to
their senses. I believe they would be prepared to set fire to the entire
world in order to achieve their aim of annihilating the German
people. The fact that the British Empire is creaking at every joint
and sooner or later will be in the severest straits is of no interest to
•these British jingos. The abrogation of the Russo-Turkish treaty
ought really to be a first-class alarm signal for British poHcy; in fact,
however, the London press says hardly a word on the subject. Here
and there some fringe newspaper points out that the Dardanelles
may become a fresh bone of contention between the Soviets and the
Anglo-Americans; but Stalin will not be in the least disconcerted by
that. The British admit with a sardonic smile that they were not
even informed beforehand that the Kremlin intended to revoke the
Soviet-Turkish Pact. The people in Ankara have earned little thanks
for their adherence to our enemies' camp. It is now realised that
sooner or later the Soviets will broach the Dardanelles question in
23 MARCH 1945 211
the most fundamental manner; in fact the Soviets are already letting
itbe known through publicity channels that they intend to revoke
or abrogate all treaties concluded with the Soviet Union prior to the
year 1925 since they no longer accord with present power rela-
tionships or the position in military matters.
At his so-called Wednesday reception Ribbentrop has made a
statement on the subject of the revocation of the Turko-Soviet pact.
The statement is disarmingly meaningless. It consists merely of
four or five sentences which have appeared in every German news-
paper for days. The Foreign Office is acting as if this statement had
created a sensation, primarily because Ribbentrop added the oracu-
lar comment that the Turks should distinguish between Germany
and the Reich. The Reich itself will survive given the necessary
material. Ribbentrop is behaving as though he were Foreign Minis-
ter of a power transcending the universe. In practice no one is taking
the smallest notice of his statement and it has aroused no echo
whatsoever in the international press.
Certain views in the commercial British press are of more impor-
tance. The Economist, for instance, writes that the Dardanelles is a
sensitive spot for Britain, adding elsewhere that the present anti-
German hatred and annihilation campaign is without substance. It
is not possible, for instance, to sever the Rhineland from the Reich;
the Reich must remain united if Europe is ever to be consolidated

again.
In passing it is worth noting that a few voices are to be heard in
London saying that the gulf between Moscow and the West will
become unbridgeable unless Moscow is prepared to give way on
the Polish question. The San Francisco Conference, they say, is the
final deadline.This conference will either never take place at all or
fizzle out. The mere
fact that 5000 delegates will be assembUng is
proof enough that nothing worthwhile can come out of it.
We now propose to reinforce our propaganda against the Seydlitz
Committee, particularly among the soldiers on the Eastern Front.
This Committee is making itself conspicuous again. It invariably
makes its appearance when German resistance at the front becomes
stiffen As soon as the Soviets get on the move, however, the
Seydlitz generals are cast aside like squeezed lemon-skins. These
generals are typical bourgeois who have not an inkling of what
bolshevism means. Just Uke Paasiviki, the Finnish Minister-
President, who explicitly denied in an interview with the British
press that the Finnish elections had taken place under Soviet pres-
sure. He maintains that complete peace and prosperity reign in
Finland and that the country has a promising future in front of it.
212 23 MARCH I945
There is nothing to be done with the man. He will probably finally

learn to understand the true nature ofbolshevism only when he gets
his bullet.
Roosevelt has despatched Flynn* as special envoy to the Pope.
Clearly Roosevelt wants to win the Cathohc Church over to his
side. The Pope is said to have been very displeased with the
Anglo-Americans after the Yalta Conference. Other considerations
may play a part here however. The Americans are working actively
in the background to cheat not only the Soviets but also the British
out of the international game. This also seems to have been noticed
by Franco, the Spanish Head of State, and he obviously intends to
enter the war against Japan on the side of the USA. For this reason
he has sent an extraordinarily sharp note of protest to Tokyo about
the treatment of Spanish citizens in the Philippines. Franco is trying
by every conceivable means to take a hand in the great game and,
having failed with Britain- and Britain, moreover, having too little
power at present to afford him the necessary protection - he is now
making a renewed attempt via the United States.
The Anglo-Americans have again attacked furiously from the air.
The series of fearful raids on Reich territory never stops. The
beautiful town of Hildesheim has been reduced to one great heap of
ruins by a single British terror raid. I am told that there are 40,000
homeless in the town. Probably a fresh catastrophe has taken place
there.
Parbelt reports to me on a trip to the Wcsi which he undertook
together with Stuckart and Klopfert and during which a series of
meetings took place with the western Gauleiters. During these
discussions Stuckart established that we have now rehoused about
19 million people. The Gauleiters in the West say emphatically that
further evacuation in the West is not possible and that they are quite
incapable of carrying out the Führer's order. They are satisfied if
they can evacuate soldiers, weapons and the essential armaments.
The problem of the foreign workers is extraordinarily disastrous. If
they are left in enemy-occupied regions, workers from the West
will be formed into infantry regiments forthwith and those from
the East placed in armaments factories. We therefore increase the
enemy's miHtary and economic war potential to an almost intol-
erable extent. The food situation in the West has become extra-
ordinarily critical. Many towns have been without bread for days or
weeks. One can imagine what the psychological effects of this are.
* Edward J. Flynn.
t Head of the Film Department in the Ministry of Propaganda.
t State Secretaries in the Ministry of the Interior and in the Party Chancellery.
23 MARCH 1945 213
The Reichsbahn is very severely criticised by the western Gauleit-
ers. Ithas got into such a desperate state that it is no longer in a

position to transport even the most essential war equipment.
Decentralisation of the arms industry, which was undertaken as a
result of the air war, has now become our Achilles' heel since the
Reichsbahn is no longer able to move to the right place the com-
ponents needed for our weapons. The Party is ready to help actively
here and protests that Speeris keeping hundreds of thousands of
men sitting around in the West doing nothing but wait for enemy
air raids so as to repair damage to the transport system. The Party is
of the opinion that the local people could do this just as well, if not
better and quicker. The state of the Reichsbahn is made worse by
the fact that the men at the top are in a mood of resignation. The
organisation is too old and inflexible to cope with the frightful new
conditions. In the West the air war is the alpha and omega. Again
and again it is emphasised that, if only we could put up even a
semi-effective defence, the problem of holding a defence line could
easily be solved. In many places the population hoisted white flags
in areas occupied by the Anglo-Americans, as the Gauleiters freely
admit. The reason is, however, that they had no wish to lose what
remained of their houses and dwelHngs. At the moment no one in
the West talks of capitulation; but when the war reaches anyone's
vicinity, everyone hopes to see it blast its way over him as quickly as
possible.
Reich propaganda offices throughout the country report a similar
attitude of mind. Among most sections of the German people faith
in victory has totally vanished. People wonder whether a counter-
offensive in the East is possible at all. They give nothing whatsoever
for the prospects of our air defence. Definite hatred of the Reich
Marshal is noticeable. Not a shred of his former popularity remains.
Criticism is now being directed, however, at the whole conduct of
the war and unfortunately even at the Führer personally. Admit-
tedly the people are doing all they can to assist their leaders in
further prosecution of the war - no one is failing to work or losing
his will to fight; hardly anywhere, however, is there any hope of a
happy ending to the war. It is significant, moreover, that refugees
from the East put a better face on things than those from the West.
Those from the West are too worn out by air raids for their morale
still to be totally intact.
Worry about food is overriding throughout the population.

Further severe reductions in the ration are expected and in the
immediate future.
Enemy propaganda is beginning to have an uncomfortably
214 23 MARCH 1945
noticeable effect on the German people. Anglo-American leaflets

are now no longerxarelessly thrown aside but are read attentively;
British broadcasts have a grateful audience. By contrast our prop-
aganda has a difficult time making an impact.
I learn with pleasure that my speech in Görlitz has made a
profound impression on wide sections of the population.
I am now increasingly switching our propaganda on to low-level
activity. To this end I am holding discussions with my propaganda

staffin Party and State. We propose to publish, among other things,
a series of slogans which are much in vogue among the people at
present. Propaganda by sticker and chain-letter will also be stepped
up. What things one does at this critical time to keep people in a
good mood!
The lettersI receive evince profound apathy and resignation. All
refer quiteopenly to the leadership crisis. All the letter-writers

show marked aversion to Goring, Ley and Ribbentrop. Unfor-
tunately even the Führer is now more frequently referred to in
critical terms. I get off somewhat more lightly in the letters I receive
but that must not be over-estimated. Everything must be looked at
relatively. I think that my work too is no longer being totally
effective today. A fateful development seems to me to be that now
neither the Führer in person nor the National-Socialist concept nor
the National-Socialist movement are immune from criticism.
Many Party members, moreover, are now beginning to waver. All
our set-backs are unanimously ascribed to Anglo-American air
superiority. We could soon deal with the Soviets if only we could
put things right in the air. The Soviet atrocities we have pubhshed
have evoked unanimous rage and thirst for revenge. The fact that
we are now referring in our press and radio to the potential crisis in
the enemy camp is beginning to have its effect. In this the people see
at least a small speck of hope on the dark horizon.
I have a long interview with General von Gottberg* on accel-
erated call-up for the fit men I have released from the Wehrmacht,
the armaments industry, the Reichsbahn, etc. General von Gottberg
thinks that he can overcome the present disastrous situation by the
issue of new regulations. I disagree with this emphatically. We have
enough regulations already. What we do not have are energetic men
who will do something on the spot. I therefore demand that General
von Gottberg delegate to my Total War staff a man who can receive
instructions direct from me and can also act as liaison officer to all
Gauleiters so that men made available for service by the Gauleiters,
* See above pp. 70, 161.

23 MARCH 1945 215
particularly men from the Wehrmacht, may be transferred to the

front as quickly as possible.
General Reymann* reports that my proposal for bolstering a
50-km zone in rear of the front with replacement units for Berlin has
had one unfortunate repercussion in that schools located in Berlin
ought now to move east with their equipment. I shall do my best to
stop this; Berlin is, after all, a front-line city in the most definite
sense of the word and if our higher-level units are now removed, we
shall not even be able to train the Volkssturm, let alone have
available adequate men and weapons for an emergency.
In a new leading article I set out yet again, in a calm, totally
assured and lofty vein, the arguments capable of giving the German
people hope of victory.
In the evening we have our regulation Mosquito raid again.
I have recently been reading Thomas Carlyle's book on Frederick
the Great. This biography is extraordinarily instructive and uplift-

ing. Carlyle is an ardent admirer of Frederick the Great and the
picture he draws of his life is that of an heroic epic. From this
account one can judge the critical situations in which the great
Prussian King was sometimes placed, the lofty relaxed frame of
mind in which he met them and the admirable stoicism with which
he overcame them. He too sometimes felt that he must doubt his
lucky star, but, as generally happens in history, at the darkest hour a
bright star arose and Prussia was saved when he had almost given
up all hope. Why should not we also hope for a similar wonderful
turn of fortune!
* See above pp. 122—3.
(pp. 1-30)
Military Situation.
In the East fighting was again concentrated in Hungary, in Silesia, in
the Küstrin area and in the West and East Prussian bridgeheads.
North of Lake Balaton the Bolshevists advanced some lokm
fartherwest through Veszprem. Attacks on our position south of
. [word illegible] failed. Violent enemy attacks between Dorog
. ,
and Tovaros narrowed our bridgehead on the south bank of the

Danube, while we further reduced the enemy's small bridgehead at
Gran.
Fighting flared up in Slovakia. The Bolshevists made small gains
of ground west of Neusohl and west of Briesen.
In Silesia the enemy pursued his major offensive in very great
strength between Bauerwitz-Leobschütz and the vicinity of
Weisse. Our units scored a complete defensive victory; apart from
minor penetrations all attacks were repulsed and 112 enemy tanks
were destroyed. Attacks on Breslau were in somewhat reduced
strength but artillery fire was heavier again. Several fires broke out
in the city. In the Küstrin sector the enemy brought up fresh
reinforcements, having suffered extraordinarily heavy losses on the
first day of fighting. In spite of these reinforcements the weight of
his attackwas somewhat reduced. In this sector 66 Soviet tanks
were destroyed and 116 on the previous day. In the light of the
numbers of men and weight of material in action the enemy success
was extraordinarily small. He was able to extend his two bridge-
heads north-west and south-west of Küstrin only by some 100
yards. The two bridgeheads succeeded in joining up on a front of
about 500 yards. OKH reports that access to Küstrin has been
re-estabHshed.
Enemy attacks on Danzig and Heiligenbeil were again extra-
ordinarily heavy. North of Gotenhafen the enemy reached the
northern edge of the town. Zoppot passed to the enemy. All other
24 MARCH 1945 217
attacks were beaten off with severe losses to the enemy. All attacks
on Heihgenbeil also failed.
In Courland the enemy continued his attempts to break through
at Frauenburg and in the sector between Frauenburg and Mitau but
without success. He only achieved minor local penetrations, some
of which were dealt with by counter-attack.
In the West the Anglo-Americans have launched a general offen-
sive all along the front. After very heavy artillery fire and bombing
the enemy crossed the Rhine on either side of Wesel during the
night and formed a bridgehead on the right bank. In the Linz
bridgehead, which now stretches as far as Neuwied in the south and
the lower reaches of the Sieg in the north, heavy attacks continued
uninterruptedly without the enemy being able to expand the
bridgehead noticeably. The Sieg front is under very heavy enemy
artillery fire.
At Freiweinheim — between Mainz and Bingen - the enemy is
using smoke. Violent street fighting continues in Mainz.
At Oppenheim the Americans put heavy tanks across the Rhine
and pushed forward to the Gross-Gerau area and west of Darm-
stadt. They occupied Gross-Gerau. Some of our reserves are on the
move up.
In Ludwigshafen the enemy penetrated to the city centre and
advanced south to Speyer, which he captured. Advancing south
from Landau the enemy reached the area east of Bergzabern and so
is in rear of the Siegfried Line. Three of our divisions from the Pfalz
Forest have already fought their way back through the enemy Unes
and formed a new front running roughly south from the
Speyer-Landau road and then south from Landau to the Siegfried
Line. German forces still in the Pfalz Forest area will probably be
able to get through since the enemy is not yet in great strength at
this point.
No fresh reports to hand from the Italian front.
In the Eastern Front zone there was heavy air activity on both
sides. Many vehicles, tanks, etc., were shot up from the air and 34
Soviet aircraft shot down.
In the Western Front area enemy fighter-bombers, low-flying
aircraft and twin-engined formations were very active in support of
the ground operations.
Over Reich
territory 1 100 American four-engined bombers with
and two smaller bomber formations concentrated on
fighter escort
Münsterland and the Rhine-Main area. From Italy 600 American
four-engined bombers attacked the Vieima complex, Schwarzheide
and Ruhland. A smaller formation of about 50 bombers was over
2l8 24 MARCH 1945
the Innsbruck area. In the morning Soviet close-support aircraft

attacked the region of Bernau and Ebers walde. During the day 18
enemy aircraft were shot down.
During the night the usual harassing raid was made on BerHn,
when three Mosquitos were shot down. There was heavier night
harassing activity as a screen for the bombers. In addition no
long-distance night fighters were in action.
The daylight raids were directed among other places on Bremen,
the Bocholt area, Münster, Osnabrück, Rheine, Dinslaken, Hagen
and numerous places in the Ruhr. Specialist formations attacked a
bridge over the Weser in the Nienburg area and damaged it.
• * * *
The situation in the West has entered an extraordinarily critical,

ostensibly almost deadly, phase. Not only has Patton forced a fresh
Rhine crossing in the direction of Darmstadt but now the British
and Canadians also have launched a decisive large-scale offensive on
the Lower Rhine and have already scored a surprise victory. They
were able to cross the Rhine on a broad front; they have also used
parachute troops and are attempting to press forward north of the
Ruhr with this concentrated force. It cannot be denied that as a
result an extraordinarily critical situation has arisen for us. The
statement from Patton's headquarters that his troops met no resis-
tance is not true, no more than that of the Canadians and British
who say that they were able to advance across the Rhine north of the
Ruhr without resistance; nevertheless the enemy now has three
extraordinarily dangerous bridgeheads east of the Rhine and from
this position he wUl undoubtedly do his utmost to surround the
Ruhr, in particular from Montgomery's bridgehead and the
Remagen bridgehead. In addition there is the dangerous advance
towards Darmstadt, putting the whole ofthat region into an extra-
ordinarily critical situation. The question now arises whether the
Rhine will be held. The war in the West has entered its decisive
phase. Our abiHty to win, even partially, this decisive phase of the
war in the West now depends on our soldiers' will to resist and their
morale and on the speed with which we can reinforce. At the
moment the battle on the Lower Rhine seems to me the most
important. The British and Canadians have been in reserve and have
undoubtedly amassed an enormous quantity of material. Their
divisions are in very good shape and they will undoubtedly do their
utmost to win a decisive victory here.
24 MARCH 1945 219
In London peopleare already talking of the last battle of the war

having Whatever happens they want to bring the war to an
started.
end in a few weeks' time primarily because of the critical political
war developments which are now giving our Western enemies
extraordinarily severe headaches. They are trying to overcome their
difficulties by mihtary victories. Kesselring is being compared to
Groener at the end of the First World War or Weygand in the
decisive phase of the Battle of France in 1940. It is openly admitted
that the intention is not to take the Ruhr by frontal attack but to
encircle it from both flanks. The use of airborne troops is described
as an act of retribution for Arnhem. It would be splendid if we could
succeed in smashing this enterprise as we did that of Arnhem.
According to custom Montgomery issues a pompous call to his
troops and one of unparalleled cynicism. In his mind he is already
across the Rhine and charging on into the North German plain. He
talks of the last round of the war as having started and with incom-
parable callousness comments that it will be interesting to see how
long the German people can hold out against uninterrupted air
bombardment. Finally he wishes his troops good hunting in Ger-
many. This Montgomery is a brainless fellow; not only that, he has
not the slightest emotion of the human heart. The British have
always boasted of their fairness in fight — in this war they are
showing that they possess not a trace of it.
In the evening the British announce that they have succeeded in
crossing the Rhine on a broad front. The airborne troops, they
say, met little resistance. It may be assumed, therefore, that their
operation has already succeeded. Churchill is with Montgomery,
This old criminal would not miss being present at such a decisive
operation and shooting off his mouth.
British bombers have recently raided The Hague, causing fearful
devastation and loss of life. The British government is trying to talk
its way out of this, saying that it was a mistake. When we had to
bomb Rotterdam for definite military reasons, the British shrieked

to high heaven and made use of this bombing as justification for
beating the German Reich to pieces. When they, on the other hand,
bomb a peaceful city, that is merely due to an error.
A most interesting development is noticeable in the United
States: a plea is increasingly being voiced that lenient peace terms be
imposed on Germany; it is added that Roosevelt is afraid that
otherwise the German people might become an abscess on the

body of Europe, if not of all mankind. Roosevelt is to some extent
forced into this position in that the US Senate is now making very
great difficulties for him over his external and world-poUtical
.
220 24 MARCH I945
relationships. It is now stated flatly in Senate circles that a two-

thirds majority for the Yalta foreign poUcy decisions cannot be
mobilised.
Tokyo is denying most energetically that atrocities have been
committed against Spanish citizens in the Philippines as the
Spaniards maintain. I do not think there is any truth in it. Franco,
having failed with the British, has now seized what he thought was
a favourable opportunity to side with the Americans. The Japanese
think that American intrigue is at the bottom of Franco's move.
Serious communist disturbances have broken out in Calabria and
Apulia. The Bonomi government is in no position to deal with
them. It is one of the most incapable and impotent governments to
be found in the whole of Europe today. But it is well known that the
British and Americans prefer to have the weakest possible govern-
ments in the countries they occupy.
There is extraordinary dismay in London over the Dardanelles
policy now being inaugurated by the Kremlin. The newspapers
declare with all seriousness that the Mediterranean can no longer be
regarded as a British lake and that, Italy being out of the running,
Britain must now make up her mind to compete with the Soviets
for control of the Mediterranean. In Ankara people are naturally
extraordinarily nervous. They know that, if the Soviets put pres-
sure on, they have nothing worthwhile with which to oppose them.
At midday I have a visit from Gauleiter Koch* so that he may
brief me on the situation in East Prussia. Our divisions there are
fighting with incomparable courage, but in the long run they can-
not hold out because they are short of equipment and also of food.
Ammunition is now so short that each gun is allowed to fire at most
only three to four rounds a day. In Samland, on the other hand, the
situation is better. More space is available in which to operate. Koch
therefore advocates transfer to Samland of the remaining divisions
operating in East Prussia so that they can protect Königsberg and
there they should be able to hold out much longer.
The Party in Königsberg has taken very comprehensive defence
measures which in some cases may serve as a pattern for us in
BerHn. Accordingly I am sending Härtung, a Party member from
Gau headquarters, to Königsberg so that he may study these
defence arrangements on the spot and draw lessons from them for
our defence arrangements in Berhn.
Koch maintains that the Soviets have suffered extraordinarily
heavy losses in East Prussia. He even says that they have so far
• Gauleiter of East Prussia.

24 MARCH 1945 221
anyway it is clear that Stalin is having

registered one million killed;
to lose agood few tail-feathers for the conquest of East Prussia.
Moreover the general aim of our overall war strategy at the
moment must be to inflict the highest possible personnel casualties
on the enemy.
The Fortress Commandant of Königsberg is a General Lasch,
about whom Koch grumbles very much. His name fits him [in
German "lasch" = "flabby"]. Koch himself, however, has been very
busy preparing the defence of Königsberg and it may be assumed
that, if the battle for the city starts in the near future, the Soviets will
face bitter resistance. .
We have to record a further crazy series of air raids during the last
24 hours. Again it was mainly the turn of the Ruhr and Bremen.
The report I receive from Hildesheim is frightful. This beautiful
old city has been flattened. No end to the air war is foreseeable. Our
new fighters have arrived too late and they can only appear in such
small numbers that they cannot register much success.
At midday we had another heavy bombing raid on Berlin, hitting
mainly Langwitz, Marienfelde and Mariendorf The main targets
were industrial installations, particularly Stock & Co, Askanta and
Siemens. The damage done is very considerable, primarily to our
arms production in BerHn. We now hardly know where our heavy
weapons can be produced. Mariendorf station has been flattened.
Many people have been buried aHve. Damage to the transport
system in this raid, made by 250 American bombers, will un-
doubtedly keep us busy for a long time. Moreover we were only
just in the process of overcoming the damage of the previous
Sunday's raid. At the moment the transport sector is the worst off.
It has suffered enormously, also from the nightly Mosquito raids.
Again and again important thoroughfares are closed and in the long
run the capital's entire transport system becomes extraordinarily
restricted.
The weekend Berlin defence stocktaking unfortunately shows
somewhat reduced figures. Considerable forces of troops have
moved out of the capital with their equipment. Moreover figures
for heavy weapons completed or under production by the various
firms have fallen but this is mainly because they had to make
dehveries by the end of the month. I hope that the figures will be
better next week.
I am now at work, together with Obergruppenführer Gottberg's
organisation, on an acceleration of call-up for men released as fit for
service. An investigation of the Todt Organisation and the Reich
Labour Service is now to be undertaken. It is hoped that this will
222 24 MARCH I945
produce greater results since both these organisations contain large

numbers of men fit for service.
We have carried out a two-day check of leave trains in BerUn,
hunting for deserters. The result has been disproportionately small.
It is therefore not true that - as is frequently maintained— thousands
of deserters are loitering around in Berlin.

The National-SociaUst Leadership Organisation* is now being
placed under firm control. General Reinecke has proved too old and
too inflexible. He will therefore be recalled from the post of leader
of the organisation. The organisation is now to be run by the Party
Chancellery itself Under their respective commanders National-
SociaHst Leadership officers will be given greater powers; they will
no longer be subordinate to but on a level with Army Operations
officers. So at last the Leadership Organisation has achieved an aim
for which it has long been striving. Unfortunately this develop-
ment comes full late - one sometimes wonders whether it is not too
late.
Graf Krosigk writes me
another letter about the present war
situation. The me in this letter have been my bread
things he tells
and butter for months, if not years. When he says, for instance, that
we must act quickly to reach a conclusion with one of the enemy
camps or the other, this is what I have been saying for ages! He
considers that we are hardest pressed by the air war and the threat
from the East. He thinks that the best mediator with the West
would be Professor Burckhardtt from Switzerland or Salazar, the
Portuguese Minister-President But at present there is no possibihty
of mediation to be seen and Graf Krosigk takes too simple a view if
he thinks that one has only to express such a wish and one will start
talks with the British or Americans at once. At the moment mihtary
developments are so much in the forefront that there is hardly any
question of a poUtical initiative in this war. As long as we cannot
achieve even semi-stabiHsation of the fronts, there can be no ques-
tion of bringing about a poUtical turning-point to the war.
I am now no longer asking for an evening situation report
because comrhunications to BerUn are so uncertain that one can get

no clear picture in the evening. The news which comes in only
confuses one. It is quite enough to be given a comprehensive
situation report at midday. Moreover one can more or less sense
* NSFO, an organisation which supplied political commissars to the Army. Gen-

eral Reinecke was its head.
t Carl Jacob Burckhardt had been High Commissioner of the League of Nations in
the Free City of Danzig before the war. He was now President of the International
Red Cross.
24 MARCH 1945 221
from the general tone of the foreign press how matters stand. At the
moment that is the reverse of good.
In the evening we have the regulation Mosquito raid once more.
It is gradually turning into a habit. It is a habit,
however, which
produces great nervousness, not to say hysteria, among the general
public.
SUNDAY 25 MARCH 1945
(pp. I -21)
Military Situation.
Continuing their major offensive on the Lower Rhine the Anglo-
Americans have so far sent two airborne divisions into action; their
main body landed in the Dorsten— Dinslaken-Kirchhellen area.
Subsidiary landings took place along the Bocholt- Wesel road, at
Bocholt-Bingen and south thereof A special combat group and a
Panzer division are moving up against these forces. A further
division is on the way. After very heavy artillery preparation the
enemy extended his bridgehead on either side of Rees. He has so far
succeeded in constructing three temporary bridges at Rees, Wesel
and Xanten. Successful counter-attacks drove the enemy back on
either side of Wesel. Street fighting is taking place in Wesel. Enemy
tanks penetrated into Dinslaken.
In the Remagen bridgehead an enemy attempt to extend the
bridgehead eastwards was stopped in fluctuating fighting; on the
other hand in attacks carried out partially at night the enemy suc-
ceeded in extending the bridgehead south-eastwards as far as
Engers east of Neuwied.
In the Oppenheim bridgehead the enemy succeeded in advancing
both eastwards and southwards and has meanwhile thrown four
temporary bridges across the river, of which one was damaged by
our counter-measures. The enemy entered Gross-Gerau, moved on
thence farther south-east and is now at Kesselborn. Dornheim was
recaptured by counter-attack. Leading enemy tanks have been held
at Griesheim on the Darmstadt road, at Ehrenfelden and Guttlau as
they were moving forward to the attack on Schollbrücken.
Bitter house-to-house and street fighting continues in Lud-
wigshafen. Speyer was lost after severe fighting. Germersheim was
attacked by the enemy from two sides, as was our bridgehead
covering Karlsruhe.
Continuing his offensive in Hungary the enemy gained ground
25 MARCH 1945 225
westwards and southwards, penetrating deeper into Bakony Forest.

Soviet attacks northwards towards the Danube east of Koniorn
were unsuccessful.
* In Slovakia the enemy gained some ground south-west of
Neusohl. Continuing his major offensive in the Leobschütz-Neisse
area the enemy made strong local holding attacks on Sohrau which
were contained apart from minor [word illegible]. The enemy
"
penetrated into Sohrau. In the Loebschütz-Ncisse area all enemy

attacks against our line, which had been withdrawn a little, failed
almost without exception with heavy Soviet losses in tanks. As a
result of this withdrawal Neisse and Leobschütz fell into enemy
hands after severe fighting. Breslau and Glogau beat off heavy
attacks.
AttacksonKüstrinfromthenorthwererepulsed.Theenemyiscon-
centrating along the Oder and in the Königsberg and Zehden areas.
In the West Prussian and East Prussian areas the situation has now
deteriorated owing to continued shortage of ammunition. Attack-
ing from the south-west, the enemy succeeded in penetrating the
outer defences of Gotenhafen and capturing OUva. Attacks on
Praust were repulsed. In the East Prussian area all attacks were
repulsed except for a concentrated attack which enabled the Soviets
to penetrate HeiHgenbeil. In these two areas 143 Soviet tanks were
destroyed.
On the Courland front all attacks were repulsed except for a few
penetrations which have been sealed off. Counter-attacks are in
progress.
No special reports to hand from the Italian front.
During the morning 800 bombers and 3000 fighters were over
northern, western and south-western Germany. The main raids
were on transport targets. In addition 11 00 American bombers
from the west attacked a total of 1 1 airfields. About 650 bombers
flew in from the south, of which 40 raided Budweis. Berlin was
attacked by 250 aircraft; Marienfelde, Tempelhof, Steglitz and
Mariendorf were the main targets. Other places raided were
Neuburg an der Donau, Riem near Munich and Lindau. Garmisch,
Innsbruck and places on the Brenner were attacked by 86 twin-
engined bombers. Essen, Bochum, Gelsenkirchen, Duisburg and
Wesel were attacked by 250 British aircraft; 300 British aircraft
attacked transport and industrial targets in the Bochum, Reck-
linghausen, Heme and Hattingen areas. In the afternoon 400
American aircraft attacked transport installations and airfields in the
Kassel area. In the evening the usual harassing raid was made on
Berlin by 40 Mosquitos.
226 25 MARCH I945
During yesterday's air battles over the fronts and over Reich
territory at least 65 enemy aircraft were shot down according to
reports so far.
In London they now feel on top of the world. Everyone thinks that,
now that the Lower Rhine has been crossed, the war will soon come
to an end. Churchill himself is at Montgomery's headquarters and
the British war reporters are recounting in triumph that he made a
trip along the Rhine in a motor-boat. This fits Churchill absolutely.
British newspapers report that he gazed at the destruction in the
Wesel area through field glasses. Probably he will pride himself a
great deal on that. One day he will go down to history as the
destroyer of the European continent.
He issues a message to Montgomery's troops. This message
abounds in British hypocrisy and cant. He says that the Rhine
crossing was only possible through the help of God and promises
the British people an early peace. As can be imagined, the British
pubUc is in a real victory deUrium as a result. It thinks that a decision
is imminent, PubUc opinion in the United States takes the same
view as that of Britain. Montgomery, however, pours a little

vinegar into this cup of joy. He warns the British soldiers against
the German population. It is up to something nasty, he says, and is
not to be trusted.
Although the situation in the West is worse than menacing and at
the moment one cannot see how or where we can consolidate, I
myself have no doubt that we shall succeed in putting up a barrier
somewhere to the Anglo-American advance eastwards. It is
perhaps of real advantage to us that the Anglo-American leaders
have set their sights on so short-term an aim; disappointment will
be all the greater when the war in the West bogs down at some point
again.
Under the pressure of military developments neutral public opin-
ion is naturally swinging totally onto the side of the Anglo-
Americans. How sure they are of themselves is to be seen from the
fact that they are now cynically informing the German people that
under their rule 5000 Germans will have to die daily from hunger
for the first one to two years.
For the present the situation in the West is totally obscure. Par-
ticularly in the area of the Rhine crossing there is much hithering
and thithering and our counter-measures have not yet developed
sufficiently to enable one to judge whether they will succeed.
25 MARCH 1945 227
Somewhere we must bring the enemy to a halt, and it is of course

disastrous that, by all indications, we have not succeeded in doing so
on the Rhine. This again is due to the enemy's catastrophic air
superiority. He lays an area he wishes to conquer so flat by massive
impossible.
air attack that resistance is practically
cheering that we are now recording 40—50 enemy aircraft
It is
shot down daily. This is due to our new fighters; but they are only in
action in such small numbers that they cannot really register any
decisive success.
The fact that they are fmding the European continent in such a
miserable state is causing the British some worry. Labour Party
observers in particular lament that, instead of a blooming continent,
a corpse is falling into their hands. The British pubHc is now slowly
beginning to reahse that, even if the Anglo-Americans do win a
victory over us, it will be a Pyrrhic victory.
The Spaniards have made a further sharp protest in Japan. The
British maintain that the Spaniards intend to sever diplomatic rela-
tions with Japan. In any case developments have reached a critical
stage. The British should not be so pleased about it since the
beneficiaries of these developments will undoubtedly be the Ameri-
cans instead of them.
The final results of the Finnish elections show that the Social-
democrats together with the Communists scored 821 ,000 votes and
the bourgeois parties 829,000. The swing to the left, therefore, was
not as marked as one had originally suspected; it is nevertheless
sufficiently significant for Finnish pohcy now to be oriented to the
left - quite apart from the pressure of Soviet occupation. Any
knowledgeable person must realise that Finland will now shde
more and more on to the communist side and will be Eastern-
orientated. In any case it looks as if she is totally lost to the Western
Powers.
Were there no war we should be celebrating the start of spring
this Sunday. A wonderfully refreshing sun beams firom the firma-
ment; in view of the general situation, however, this is merely
provoking, seeing that we have already had an early morning air-
raid alert in Berhn. Strong bomber formations were again on the
way and it was initially assumed that they were making for BerUn.
This time, however, the capital was spared.
The series of air raids during the last 24 hours has again been
horrifying. This time the Anglo-Americans concentrated on our
airfields; clearly our jet fighters are causing them some anxiety. In
addition they attacked transport targets in the west and south. Rail
traffic is totally at a standstill. There are districts in which not a
225^ 25 MARCH I945
single train runs; where trains do run they can only do so at night
and at a snail's pace.
All day long I have had a mountain of work to deal with, so that I
have hardly been able to reaHse that this is Sunday and a lovely
spring day. Day by day one's worries increase, particularly about
the situation at the front. More and more one wonders where things
will come to rest in the end.
This evening the situation in the West is no less obscure. Admit-
tedly the British have made no great progress with their attacks east
of the Lower Rhine; the Americans, however, have made a most
menacing advance in the direction of Dinslaken. In addition they
have succeeded in expanding their bridgehead towards Darmstadt
to such an extent that they have by-passed the city and almost
reached Aschaffenburg. This offensive is a complete surprise. Look-
ing at the map one is to a certain extent horror-struck. The Fiihrer's
headquarters is trying to put everything we can lay hands on into
action against this advance. Communications are so wretched,
however, that our reinforcements are Ukely to arrive too late.
In Hungary the Soviets have crossed the Gran. The situation
there has become precarious. Fighting in Upper Silesia is again very
severe as it is in West and East Prussia. Nevertheless the Soviets
have not yet been able to score a decisive victory.
Naumann* has paid a two-day visit to Tölz and Munich. He tells
me of prevaihng opinion there. Everywhere the same questions are
asked: When will the Führer at last make the changes of personnel in
the Reich leadership which the whole people is demanding? As is
generally known criticism is directed mainly against Goring and
Ribbentrop. Since the Führer consistently refuses to make changes
here, there is gradually developing not only a leadership crisis but a
definite Führer crisis. In Augsburg Dr Naumann heard that 100 of
our Me 262s, our most valuable and most expensive new aircraft,
were destroyed on the ground by an enemy bombing raid on the
place. One can imagine the effect on the work force which has
laboured day and night to make their contribution to clearing the
German skies of the enemy again. The Luftwaffe is no longer able to
guarantee even the most elementary conditions. This is not to be
changed by mere reorganisation but only by fundamental reform at
the top and in branches,
I have sent the Führer a long letter on organisational reform of the
Luftwaffe. The Führer declares that he is in agreement with my ten

proposals and gives me the necessary powers. With these powers I
* Acting Gauleiter of the Moselle.

24 MARCH 1945 229
have an opportunity of streamlining the whole Luftwaffe organ-

isation so that its hydrocephahc structure will at last really be done
away with. I shall try to complete this task with the utmost speed.
Nevertheless I am convinced that this alone is not enough. The
point is not whether one is doing a job but the spirit in which it is
done.
)
(pp- 1-3 1
Military Situation.
In Hungary the Soviets reached the western edge of the Balcony
Forest in the Papa— Cewecser region. Attacks on Komorn and on
the Danube were repulsed. On the Slovakian front the enemy also
went over to the offensive at Leva and formed three bridgeheads
over the Gran. One of these bridgeheads was broken up at once and
the second reduced. The Soviets were able to expand the third
bridgehead southwards.
In the Mährisch-Ostrau area the enemy penetrated to a depth of
4 km near Sohrau but the break-in was sealed off In the main area of
the offensive between Ratibor and Neisse all Soviet attacks were
repulsed, some by counter-attack, and loi out of 200 attacking
Soviet tanks were destroyed. A heavy concentrated local attack at
Strehlen enabled the enemy to capture this place. At Breslau violent
attacks from north-east and south-west were driven off and minor
penetrations contained.
In the Küstrin area enemy offensive activity was reduced. Küstrin
Old Town is at present under artillery fire. Enemy reconnaissance
activity against our bridgeheads at Zehden and PöUtz increased.
In West Prussia the enemy was able to penetrate somewhat
deeper into the inner defences of Gotenhafen as a result of severe
fighting. Fighting is still going on in Oliva. At Praust the enemy
gained some ground towards Danzig. Heavy fighting continues in
East Prussia. A
defensive victory was again scored at Heiligenbeil,
German troops in the Heiligenbeil area are now to be evacuated to
the Königsberg-Samland area.
On the Courland front a complete defensive victory was again
scored at the main centres of fighting.
No very favourable picture emerges from the second day of the
battle on the Lower Rhine, in the course of which two enemy
airborne divisions have so far been dropped, concentrated in the
.
26 MARCH 1945 231
Bocholt-Dinslaken area. Enemy forces dropped near Bocholt and

south of it were driven westwards and south-westwards towards
the Rhine by strong German counter-attacks. Enemy efforts to
extend his bridgeheads either side of Rees, at Xanten and at Wesel
had only little success. On either side of Wesel the enemy was
driven back towards the Rhine; from ... [2 Unes illegible] . .
enemy airborne division dropped in the Dinslaken-

Kirchkapellen-Castrop area succeeded in gaining contact with
forces moving up north-eastwards from Dinslaken. It is suspected
that the enemy, who has so far used two of his six available airborne
divisions, intends to make airborne landings only in the zone near
the front.
No special developments on the entire front from Duisburg to
Köln.
In the Remagen bridgehead the enemy did not succeed in cross-
ing the Sieg northwards. He was equally unable to extend his
bridgehead north-eastwards or eastwards. Only in the south and
south-east did he succeed in making minor gains of ground. In
general terms, however, the situation in the bridgehead is
unchanged.
Fresh crossings of the Rhine took place in the area between
Braubach, Boppard and St Goarshausen. Near Braubach the enemy
moved forward to Oberlahnstein. At Boppard he was held in the
bend of the Rhine and at St Goarshausen driven back across the
Rhine by counter-attack. The enemy has not so far extended his
crossings northwards or eastwards.
The most Darmstadt where the enemy
critical situation is that at
crossed the Rhine on moving forward to Gross-
the previous day,
Gerau and also west of Darmstadt. Strong armoured forces have
meanwhile been brought forward across three temporary bridges
erected at the crossing points and yesterday they attacked from the
bridgehead, breaking through our comparatively weak defensive
front. They drove our forces back northwards and southwards
where they occupied switch positions. Leading enemy tanks drove
on eastwards, reaching Aschafienburg where they crossed the Main
by the undamaged bridge. Other leading enemy tanks crossed the
Main at Hanau where the bridge was semi-destroyed. It is suspected
that from here the enemy will swing northwards.
Farther south the main feature of the situation is severe fighting in
the bridgehead in front of Karlsruhe.
No special reports from the Itahan front.
There was sustained air activity by both sides on the Eastern
Front yesterday. In air battles 45 Soviet aircraft were shot down.
232 26 MARCH I945
In the West a limited number of our fighters were in action

against low-flying aircraft.
Over Reich territory strong British and American four-engined
formations with fighter escort flew in from west and south during
the day, attacking industrial and transport targets and built-up areas
in Hannover, Münster and Osnabrück. From the south 650 [word
four-engined bombers attacked primarily industrial and
illegible]
transport targets and also the airfield of [word illegible]. Final
reports on the air situation, in particular numbers of aircraft shot
down, are not yet available.
The critical development in the West is undoubtedly that in the

Main area and at Aschaffenburg. Here the Americans have suc-
ceeded in making a surprise advance deep into our hinterland,
producing an extraordinarily precarious situation for us. We are of
course trying to get the better of this situation with all the resources
available to us, but these resources are very limited so that the
Americans wiU probably retain considerable freedom of move-
ment. This could lead to the most unpleasant repercussions since
such deep penetrations into the hinterland generally descend upon
both the population and the few available Wehrmacht units quite
unexpectedly with proportionate results. On the other hand the
situation of the airborne units, both British and American, is not so
good for the enemy. The British in particular have suffered extra-
ordinarily severe losses. So far neither they nor the Americans have
succeeded in estabUshing touch between the airborne troops and
their bridgeheads. Here too, however, the situation is most pre-
carious and it must be anticipated that they will succeed in gaining
contact sooner or later. Our troops in this area are putting up very
stiff resistance. But we are poor folk and have only Hmited resources
and potentiahties with which to oppose the enemy. As a result both
in the north of the eastern Rhine region and in the south the
situation is completely fluid, as of course emerges in today's OKW
report, producing a corresponding shock effect throughout the
entire population. In view of the expUcit terms in which our official
reports are couched this shock effect is no longer avoidable. The
result is a further deep dent in the war morale both of the troops and
of the civil population.
Slesina* gives me a detailed report on the subject. He describes to
* Head of the Propaganda Office in Westmark.
26 MARCH 1945 233
me the rout on the Saar front which was really terrible. As we

know, the Americans succeeded in taking our Saar front in rear. The
Army fighting on the Siegfried Line was withdrawn too late and
largely fell into enemy hands. The troops' morale was cor-
respondingly low. That of the civil population was even worse; in

many places people opposed the troops and placed obstacles in the
way of the defence. To a great extent the tank barriers constructed
in the hinterland were captured by the enemy without a fight. I tax
Slesina with the fact that not a single symbol of resistance has
emerged in the West, Uke Breslau or Königsberg, for instance, in the
East. His explanation is that people in the West have been so worn
down by the months and years of enemy air raids that they prefer an
end to this horror rather than an endless horror. A contributory
factor, I beheve, is that people in the West are not by nature as tough
as those in the East. They are nearer to France, Europe's most
over-civihsed country, whereas people in the East are nearer to
Poland and Russia, the more primitive countries of Europe. In any
case it is noteworthy that the situation in the West is developing far
more unfavourably than that in the East. I shall probably now find
less use being made of the argument adduced against me in recent
weeks our withdrawal from the Geneva Convention would
that
lead to a collapse of morale among our troops in the West. I beHeve
that, had we proceeded in more radical fashion in our treatment of
prisoners of war, the numbers of German soldiers and even officers
surrendering to the British and Americans would have been smaller
than is the case today. At the present moment the enemy is having
an easy time in the West. Neither the troops nor the civil population
are putting up organised courageous resistance against him so that
the Americans in particular can drive about the countryside at wilL
In view of this situation the Führer's continued insistence on his
evacuation order is purely academic. In practice such evacuations
simply cannot be carried out. The people just will not move and we
do not possess adequate force in this area to compel them to do so.
Inmost of the occupied areas we have at least succeeded in getting
back the men fit for service, especially the youngsters whose
behaviour in this extraordinary military dilemma is still exemplary.
I foresee that the Führer's evacuation order will result in a severe
loss of authority, for impracticable orders invariably do damage
rather than the reverse to the giver of them. Nevertheless fun-
damentally the Führer is right since any human, material or
economic potential which we allow to fall into enemy hands will be
turned against us in a very short time.
I have already emphasised that the weary impression given by the
234 26 MARCH 1945
western population is due primarily to the enemy air terror. In the

west and south-west of the country there are now hardly any
periods free of air-raid alerts. People sit day and night in the air-raid
shelters which have increasingly become hotbeds of defeatism.
There are no longer any free periods at all when people can move
about on the roads. People largely look upon the air war as a sort of
natural catastrophe, for the end of which one waits with no idea
how the end can be brought about.
In general it may be said that the attitude of the civil population is
somewhat better than that of the troops. But bad morale among the
troops invariably has lasting repercussions on that of the civil
population. Our Gauleiters in the West are not quite up to the
situation. Some of them are too old- Murr or Sprenger, for instance
— and they have long since resigned themselves. Changes of per-
sonnel should have been made here years ago, for men aged be-
tween 60 and 70 are no longer capable of meeting the frightful
demands now being made on the National-Socialist leadership
class.
I am now busy
organising the so-called "Werwolf" movement*
on The purpose of Werwolf is to organise partisan
a large scale.
groups in enemy-occupied territories. Not much preparation has
been made so far. The reason is that military developments in the
West have been so sudden that we have had absolutely no time. In
general, however, partisan activity in enemy territories formerly
occupied by us has only got going after a certain time but has then
gone up by leaps and bounds. I propose to release a transmitter for
our Werwolf organisation and also issue a newspaper; this will be
done quite openly. We do not intend to hide our light under a bushel
and do secret-service work. On the contrary the enemy should
know precisely what we are planning and doing.
The enemy naturally feels at the height of his triumph as a result
of the mihtary victories won by the Anglo-Americans in the West.
The Soviets however, take hardly any notice of them and dismiss
them in their newspapers in a couple of lines.
The Americans are at present having most anxious moments
about steeL They had made premature readjustments based on an end
to the war and must now set their arms production in motion again.
I anticipate that the present mihtary crisis in the West will bring us
certain advantages ä la longue in that once again the enemy has made
preparations for a very quick end to the war which we must do our
* The Werwolf organisation was intended, and advertised, as a massive guerrilla
movement within Germany, comparable with the movements in
resistance
German occupied Europe. It was a complete fiasco.
26 MARCH 1945 235
Utmost to prevent. Meanwhile the political crisis will continue. The

Soviets, for instance, have demanded that the Soviet Union have
five votes at the San Francisco Conference; in other words they
wish to outvote their rivals in the coahtion. Negotiations in Mos-
cow over reconstitution of the Polish government are proceeding
only very hesitantly. The Soviets are said to have threatened that, if
the Anglo-Americans demand fundamental changes in the LubHn
Committee, they will quite simply torpedo the San Francisco Con-
ference. In Finland Mannerheim is now doomed. Swedish reports
say that he is to be shelved following the recent elections. Paasiviki
will be his successor. The Soviets will be able to manage Paasaviki
better than Mannerheim. He is the typical drawing-room bol-
shevist, a craven unprincipled bourgeois whose sole ambition is to
play the role of Kerensky for Finland.
In the light of Soviet intrigue in all countries of Europe it is little
better than a bad joke that at this of all moments Pravda should
proclaim the Soviet model man. He is said to be characterised by
generosity and simpUcity. MilUons of tortured people in Europe
today could sing a Uttle song about this generosity. But the paper is
indulgent and complacently accepts the most repellent Jewish
twaddle, as this example proves once more.
At midday I have a long visit from the Croat Minister. I take the
greatest trouble to comfort him somewhat. He is naturally very
downcast over miUtary developments. Nevertheless he is still a
revolutionary character. It would be interesting to know what
Oshima, the Japanese Ambassador, is thinking at present since his
reports to Tokyo have been completely contradicted by the latest
war developments.
In the last 24 hours the Anglo-Americans have raided mainly
Osnabrück and Fulda. There is not much left to destroy in these
cities; they are Uttle more than heaps of ruins. The enemy air forces
are now going primarily for industrial and transport targets where
they can still do us considerable damage.
Gauleiter Sauckel* addresses a protest to me against any further
crowding of the Thuringian area with evacuees. Thuringia, how-
ever, is not as badly crowded as a number of other Gaus. We must
now squeeze ourselves closer into those parts of the Reich which
remain to us, particularly if the Führer's evacuation order for the
West is to be carried out even partially.
Supplies of coal are becoming ever shorter in Berlin. To all
intents and purposes Ruhr coal no longer arrives. We are going to
• Gauleiter of Thuringia and Plenipotentiary for Forced Labour.
236 26 MARCH 1945
try to divert some Central German coal to Berlin since Berlin is

carrying some 80% of the emergency armaments programme
today. It is therefore essential to keep Berlin's coal supply going.
Since we are getting to all intents and purposes no more coal from
the Saar or the Ruhr, our coal resources have become extra-
ordinarily restricted. Not much can be done with emergency meas-
ures. Fortunately warm spring weather has now arrived so that
people do not have to suffer so much from the cold.
A number of training units from Berlin have been released for the
Eastern Front. As a result Berlin's defence capacity has been
severely reduced, particularly since these units took their weapons
with them. I shall try to have further replacement units transferred
to the capital from the Reich.
A most serious problem for us is the question what we are to do
with the population in front of and behind the main battle Une in
Berlin should the enemy really break through on the Oder front.
We must work out an evacuation plan for all eventualities and in the
last resortimplement it by improvisation. The Führer has given his
approval for use of the East-West Axis as a runway. The Tier-
garten* is not to be cut down however. The Führer thinks that the
Axis itself must suffice as a runway. The Luftwaffe of course would
hke to hack down the whole Tiergarten. They take a frightfully
simple view of things. It is provoking, when talking to Luftwaffe
officers, to hear them referring to the air war as if the Luftwaffe had
nothing whatsoever to do with it.
The whole day is filled with the most serious worries. One
dramatic report after another is submitted to me and in each of them
I am loaded with a host of the trickiest problems. In this atmosphere
the wonderful spring weather is simply an irritation. One would

hke to close the shutters and hide within one's four walls.
In the evening the new Wochenschau [Weekly Review] is sub-
mitted to nie. It includes some really shattering pictures from the
West which we cannot possibly publish. Demolition of the Rhine
bridges in Köln, for instance, makes one heavy at heart. To see our
beautiful cities on the left of the Rhine now being bombarded by
our own artillery is truly heart-rending.
Late in the evening I have a call from Müller from Kesselring's
headquarters. Müller has had two long talks with Kesselring during
the day. Kesselring is now very worried indeed about signs of
disintegration at the front, particularly in the Hanau-Frankfurt
area. Here people are meeting the Americans with white flags;
* i.e. the trees in the Tiergarten, the park in central Berhn. The East- West Axis is
the main avenue leading into Berlin: it was converted into a runvây.
26 MARCH 1945 237
women are so far demeaning themselves as to welcome and

embrace the Americans. In the light of this the troops are no longer
willing to fight and are either withdrawing unresistingly or sur-
rendering to the enemy. Kesselring regards this as the real reason for
our lack of defensive strength. He says that the situation is now ripe
for the Führer to speak at once. I too think this necessary. In so
serious a situation the nation cannot remain without a call from the
highest quarters. Atalk by the Führer over the radio would be as
good evening I get in touch
as a victorious battle today. Late in the
with General Burgdorf and ask him to submit the matter to the
Führer on my behalf during the course of the night. I hope that
Burgdorf will succeed. In the hour of Britain's war crisis Churchill
addressed himself to the nation in a magnificent speech and put it on
its feet again. The same was the case with the Soviet people when
Stalin successfully appealed to them with the slogan "Better to die

standing than live kneeling." Nowthat we are in a similar, though
not much worse situation, we must do the same. Burgdorf was not
impervious to my arguments. He will submit the question to the
Führer seriously and pressingly. I hope that he will succeed.
(pp. 1-68 + 5 la)

Military Situation.
In Hungary the severe defensive fighting south of the Danube
moved to the Marczal Canal, south-west of Papa and to the lower
Raab. All attacks on the Komom area and on our bridgeheads on the
Danube were repulsed. The enemy was able to form two small
bridgeheads north of the mouth of the Gran. He extended his
bridgehead at Leva somewhat farther eastwards, south-eastwards
and southwards.
At Neusohl fighting moved farther into the hills north-east of the
town, the town itself beating off all attacks.
In the Mährisch-Ostrau area the enemy is trying to penetrate
farther into the industrial zone from Sohrau and Leobschütz. All
enemy attacks were repulsed, in some cases on shorter lines; only at
Joslau, which fell into enemy hands, did he succeed in making a
minor break-in. The main centre of fighting was again in the area
south of Neisse where all enemy attacks were repulsed. Very heavy
Soviet attacks on Breslau from the south also failed; no more than a
few totally destroyed housing blocks had to be abandoned. Soviet
troop concentrations have been detected at Forst and Guben indi-
cating the possibility of local offensives. Küstrin is under heavy
artillery fire; in addition the town was bombed six times from the
air and at the same time heavily but unsuccessfully attacked from
north, east and south. Enemy attacks on our bridgeheads at Zehden
and Pöiitz also failed. In the Danzig— Gotenhafen area the Soviets
moved in from west and south-west against the outer defences of
Danzig. South-east of Praust the Soviets achieved a small penet-
ration towards Gottswalde. Port installations at Danzig were
demohshed on orders. In the Heiligenbeil bridgehead, which is
under very heavy artillery fire, the troops fought their way through
to the ships with the bayonet and were evacuated to Pillau.
All along the Courland front a complete defensive victory was
scored, in some cases by counter-attack.
27 MARCH 1945 239
The on the Lower Rhine has not appreci-

situation in the battle
ably altered since previous day. Violent enemy attacks
the
northwards from Rees were driven back on the Wesel-Emmerich
railway line. Any further extension of the enemy bridgehead south of
Rees was stopped. Detachments of airborne troops who had landed
east of Rees attacked northwards and north-westwards from the
Hamminkeln area. German defensive forces are on the move up. At
Wesel the enemy succeeded in making a deep penetration on either
side of the Börsten railway Hne; here the enemy has gained some
8-9 km of ground since the previous day. The break-in has mean-
while been sealed off. The main body of airborne troops dropped in
the wooded areas north and north-east of Dinslaken were able to
join up with forces which had crossed the Rhine at Dinslaken. They
attacked eastwards but were held and in some cases driven back on a
new stop-line running south through Kirchellen, some 12 km west
of Dörstheiden. The enemy has therefore succeeded in expanding
his bridgeheads considerably but could make no break-through. As
before, the critical point is north and north-east of Dinslaken.
Throughout the day violent fighting took place in the Remagen
bridgehead. All enemy attacks on the Sieg and on the German bridge-
heads over that river failed. The enemy was able to extend his
bridgehead farther eastwards. Leading enemy troops reached the
Altkirchen area, where they were held. South-eastwards tlie enemy
reached Höhr-Grenzhausen.
The enemy attempted to expand his bridgeheads and cross the
Rhine between Braubach and Kaub. At Braubach enemy troops
pushing forward towards Oberlahnstein were contained. At Bop-
pard the enemy is still bottled up in the bend of the Rhine. Enemy
attempts to cross at St Goarshausen and northwards and at Ober-
wesel failed. On the other hand the enemy succeeded in getting
troops across the Rhine at Kaub.
Pushing north from Darmstadt enemy armoured forces broke
through our reserve positions. They pushed on farther north-
eastwards and entered Offenbach. Severe fighting is in progress on
the southern edge of Frankfurt am Main. At Hanau the enemy
advanced southwards along the Main and captured Gross-
Steinheim. The situation in the SeHgenstadt area is obscure. Enemy
forces which had crossed the Main at Aschaffenburg were held at
Schweinheim. Enemy attempts to expand the bridgehead north of
Worms were stopped by counter-attack.
No special reports from the Itahan front.
There was heavy enemy air activity on the Eastern Front. In the
central sector 885 Soviet aircraft were in action. The fortresses of
240 27 MARCH I945
Breslau and Glogau were resupplied by air. German close-support

aircraft again reported good results in the East.
In action against an enemy air attack on a German convoy in
Norwegian waters our fighters shot down seven enemy aircraft and
dispersed the enemy formation.
Enemy air activity in the West was reduced for reasons of
weather. 450 American four-engined bombers made their main
attack on Plauen; from the south 800 four-engined bombers with
strong fighter escort raided south-west Germany; 20 Soviet aircraft
were in the general area of Berlin during the day and dropped
several HE bombs on Fredersdorf station. They also machine-
gunned Kaulsdorf 600 bombers made their main target Wiener
Neustadt. Most of the bombs dropped north of Vienna fell in the
open. During the night a harassing raid was made on Berlin by 70
Mosquitos.
Three aircraft were shot down by AA. One Mosquito was shot
down over Berlin during the night.
The British and especially the Americans arc at present pursuing

really wide-ranging plans on the Western Front; this applies par-
ticularly to General Patton who has been conspicuous for his series
of audacious advances ever since the start of the offensive and who is
now well under way. He is letting it be known that practically
nowhere is he meeting any firm resistance and consequently can
drive around in our country unimpeded. This is in fact the case. The
American advance in the Main region in particular has thrown us
into the most vexatious confusion. We hardly even have replace-
ment units available in this area. Wc are now having to have
recourse to the Cadet School in Tölz in order to plug at least the
worst holes as best we may. Patton too, however, cannot do just
what he likes. He must wait for supplies since gains of ground as
large as those he has made in the last week eat up material in the long
run and this seems to a certain extent to be the case with him today.
In any case the American advance in the southern sector of the
Western Front and the British crossing of the Lower Rhine have
produced a sort of frenzy of victory in London. Every Englishman
is now convinced that the war will be over in a few weeks, perhaps
in a few days. People are counting on mid-April at latest.

Montgomery has contributed to this mood with his continuous
attacks on the pubUcity media. It may be of great advantage to us in
the coming weeks. Even Eisenhower, however, who is otherwise
27 MARCH 1945 241
invariably most cautious in his estimates, is allowing himself to be

carried away by the general hypnosis and is saying that there will
now be no further hold-up until Berlin. We
shall have a word to say
about that, however.
I am now in process of initiating a very highly coloured anti-
Anglo-American propaganda campaign in the German press and
radio. So far we have treated the Anglo-Americans far too leniently
in our propaganda and have based ourselves solely on the infor-
mation issued by them. As a result morale in the West has not
become better but worse. With our anti-bolshevist atrocity cam-
paign we succeeded in reconsohdating our front in the East and
making the civil population completely ready to defend themselves.
That this has not happened in the West is primarily due to the fact
that large sectionsof the German people and also of our troops think
that the Anglo-Americans will treat them more leniently. As far as
day-to-day procedures are concerned this may be true; fun-
damentally, however, the Western camp is far more hostile to us
than the Eastern. We must now institute a new propaganda system,
going more into the particulars, describing more details and thereby
attacking the enemy once more. As the facts prove, our propaganda
hitherto has failed to make its impact on the German people.
The British newspapers too are now rejoicing that German
morale should be sinking so rapidly. The Daily Mail is extra-
ordinarily surprised. It had thought the German attitude to be
firmer than proving to be.

it is
The British maintain that since i March the Anglo-Americans

have taken 300,000 prisoners. This figure seems to me highly
exaggerated; in fact, however, many of our units have given them-
selves up when there was no pressing necessity to do so. It would
have been better if we had withdrawn from the Geneva Convention
at the time of the bombing raid on Dresden. All the foxy fellows in
the government opposed the idea. Now my point of view has once
more been proved right.
The Anglo-Americans look upon the numerous Rhine crossings
almost as an unexpected miracle. They had thought that they would
meet much stiffer resistance here. Our severe losses on the left bank
of the Rhine of course left large gaps in the ranks of our divisions.
In the evening Eisenhower declares that our main defence Hne has
been broken and that they will now move direct on Berhn. I do not
think, however, that the Anglo-Americans will try this. They will
undoubtedly first make for other less distant objectives. This is also
stated in various quarters on the other side. They are said to be
thinking of Leipzig or Kassel, for instance. In short the enemy
242 27 MARCH I945
information policy is not co-ordinated and we can hardly make any

worthwhile deductions from it as regards our own strategy.
The pohtical worries facing the Anglo-Americans in the event of
a German collapse for which they have longed, and which they now
expect soon, are gradually and increasingly beginning to emerge. It
is feared that the consequences of this collapse will be devastating,
not only for the Reich but for the whole of Europe and for our
Western enemies. Europe, they say, has been turned into one great
heap of ruins; it is facing complete catastrophe. Nevertheless in the
Western camp people are still insisting that Germany must sur-
render unconditionally. A number of influential Englishmen are
drawing up a melancholy political and economic balance sheet
for this war. They frankly admit that Britain has lost almost
everything, that she is no longer a great power and that this war
can be described as the most unfortunate occurrence in British
history.
For this Churchill is responsible. He was challenged in the Com-
mons and questioned about possibilities of peace with the Reich. He
answered evasively or at least with great reserve.
There is a definite and widespread feeling in London that victory
and peace are round the corner. I beHeve that, if we succeed - and we
must succeed - in re-establishing a firm defence line, no matter
where, the British barometer will quickly fall below zero again.
Churchill is already in such a victory mood that he is now cynically
snubbing the workers and trades unions. He does not even receive
their representatives. He thinks that is no longer necessary and is
ruthlessly throwing overboard all the promises he made to the
workers during this war, particularly in Britain's most critical
periods.
Lloyd George has died at the age of 82. He was no longer taking
any part whatsoever in British politics. If he survives the war,
Churchill will suffer a similar fate. The British do not treat their war
leaders with much gratitude.
Great unease is noticeable in Turkey. People in Ankara are uncer-
tain of Moscow's real purpose in denouncing the Soviet-Turkish
Pact. The Soviet press has launched an extraordinarily violent cam-
paign against Turkey. In Turkish circles it is suspected that these
attacks are aimed more at Britain than at Turkey. Soviet policy
vis-a-vis Turkey bears a typically anti-British stamp. The decision
on the Dardanelles question is to be taken in San Francisco. What a
lot of things are to be done in San Francisco! And it is not even
certain that this conference will take place at all or whether a Soviet
representative will participate.
27 MARCH 1945 243
I am receiving frightful reports from Stuhlweissenburg of the
Soviet atrocities comimitted there. They put in the shade those

committed in the east German regions. Diaries found on dead
Soviet soldiers at Stuhlweissenburg show^, however, that the Soviet
troops are extraordinarily war-weary. There too people would
prefer to see the guns silenced today rather than tomorrow.
Moreover the naivete of the Soviet soldiery is really grotesque.
They picture themselves as the great world saviours and it is obvi-
ous that bolshevist propaganda has inoculated them with a superior-
ity complex producing the most improbable results. Moreover it
has been dinned into every Soviet soldier that he should take his
revenge on Germany. And indeed he does so to the fullest extent.
There are many complaints in the diaries about the partisan nuis-
ance in the Soviet hinterland which in fact is keeping the Red Army
extraordinarily busy.
Conti* has now issued a decree to German doctors giving them
permission to carry out abortions on German women who have
been raped by Bolshevists. This problem will play a considerable
role in the future, particularly seeing that vast numbers of German
women have been infected with venereal disease by Soviet soldiers.
Plauen has been very heavily attacked from the air. The town
centre has been almost totally destroyed. Elsewhere we have again
suffered much misery from the air. The British are no longer
operating at night, however, probably because of the extra-
ordinarily bright moonlight.
At midday I hold a roll-call in the Ministry. It takes place in the
theatre hall which now consists of Httle more than the outer walls. I
impress upon my staff that in the present critical situation they must
show themselves models of manly loyalty.
Dr Ley, who has just returned from a trip to Vienna and the
Lower Danube, pays me a visit to report. He is pretty well knocked
out and is thoroughly rattled by recent developments particularly in
the West. Four days ago he was writing in Angriff that the crisis in
the West was acting as a healthy restorative. The remark created a
considerable public sensation. I reproach him with it. Now he
pretends to know nothing about it. He wants to go to the Führer
and ask his permission to form a Free Corps of courageous Party
members. This Free Corps would undoubtedly be an undiscipUned
horde and I know in advance that the Führer will refuse permission
if only for this reason. In other respects Ley's proposals for dealing
with our present emergency are extraordinarily naive, though they
* "Reich Health Leader."

244 27 MARCH 1945
are evidence of goodwill. Ley has become somewhat hysterical

under the impact of recent developments. It shows that he is not a
naturally strong personahty. He is only strong when there is some
external cause to be so. Moreover he oscillates like a windsock when
times are serious and critical.
The Führer is insisting on his order for total evacuation of west-
ern regions threatened by the enemy and total destruction of our
industry. In the unanimous opinion of all western Gauleiters this
order cannot in practice be carried out. How, for instance, is this
now to be done in the Würzburg area, into which the Americans
have suddenly and unexpectedly advanced? Who is to take charge of
the people on the move and how arc they to be moved? Who is to
destroy industry and how is it to be done? In many respects today
we are moving in a vacuum in our conduct of the war. We issue
orders in Berhn which in practice never reach the lower level, let
alone being capable of implementation. I see here the danger of an
extraordinary loss of authority.
Our rationing system is now being made somewhat more flex-
ible for the first time, in other words people get ration cards on
which the various articles of food are not set out in detail. Only the
basic foodstuffs such as fat, meat and bread remain in general
unchanged.
Krosigk has now completed his draft on tax reform. For me the
draft is too anti-social. It is based primarily on taxation of con-
sumption; income tax, on the other hand, is not taken into con-
sideration. Consumption taxation, however, hits almost solely the
broad masses and is therefore extraordinarily unpopular with them.
It would produce much injustice which at the present time we
cannot afford to have. There will therefore be very strong resistance

to Krosigk's draft.
At midday the Führer calls me over to the Reich Chancellery for a
long talk. I am few words with General Burgdorf
able to have a
shortly beforehand. Even General Burgdorf is pretty depressed. He
sees no way at the moment of opposing the Anglo-Americans in the
Main area. People arc now screaming from all sides for poUtical
salvation. This is a feeble excuse since of course we can do nothing
pohtically when we are in such a miserable situation militarily. The
fact that the Americans have been able advance to Würzburg is of
to
course an absolute scandal but it is primarily due to the facts that the
troops are no longer fighting and that the civil population has far
too often failed to take the necessary measures to prepare to defend
itself This Ley explicitly emphasised to me. He thinks that, if
all the Gaus were as determined to defend themselves as, for
27 MARCH 1945 245
instance the Berlin Gau, developments such as those in the Main

area could not have taken place.
As far as the situation in the Main areais concerned attempts will
be made to salvage something by makeshift measures. The situation

is critical, however, not only there but also in Hungary. There we
are possibly running the risk of losing our vital oilfield. * Our SS
formations have put up a wretched show in this area. Even the
Leibstandartet is no longer the old Leibstandarte since its officer
material and men have been killed off. The Leibstandarte bears its
honorary title in name only. The Führer has nevertheless decided to
make an example of the SS formations. He has commissioned
Himmler to fly to Hungary to remove their armbands. This will, of
course, be the greatest imaginable disgrace for Sepp Dietrich. The
army generals are rubbing their hands at the blow dealt to their
rivals. The SS formations in Hungary not only failed to carry their
offensive through but withdrew and in some cases pulled out.
Inferior human material left its mark in most unpleasant fashion.
Sepp Dietrich is to be pitied, Himmler too however, since he, the
Head of the SS with no war decorations, now has to carry out this
severe punishment in face of Sepp Dietrich who wears the
Diamonds. What is far worse, however, is that our oilfield is now in
most serious danger. Everything must be done to preserve at least
this basis for our strategy.
The scene in the Reich Chancellery garden is a desolate one -just
heap upon heap of rubble. The Fiihrer's bunker is being reinforced
at this moment. The Führer is at present determined to remain in
Berlin even if the position becomes critical. There is a sort of
presentiment of doom among the Führer's mihtary entourage,
proof of the fact that the Führer has assembled around him only
feeble characters upon whom he cannot rely in emergency. The
attitude of the SS officers is good. Günsche reports to me as Defence
Commandant for the government quarter. I think I can rely on him.
In BerUn we are of course working feverishly to increase our
defence preparedness. But these efforts are being put to increasingly
severe tests. Not only have the replacement units been removed
from Berlin but we now have to relinquish major portions of the
Berlin anti-aircraft -15 heavy batteries in all which are now des-
tined for the Oder front. I shall try to save at least some of them for
the Reich capital.
Then I have the exhaustive discussion with the Führer that he
wanted. We talked walking up and down in the Chancellery garden.
* See above p. 203.
t lit. Life Guard Battalion - the most elite SS unit.
27 MARCH 1945
The Führer, thank God, is in good shape physically, as is always the

case with him when things are critical. In this respect he is really
admirable. Sadly, however, I note that he stoops even more as he
walks; outwardly he completely relaxed, however, as is only right
is
in the present situation. Nevertheless I notice that he is extra-
ordinarily tense. Recent events at the front have put him under great
pressure. We walk up and down the terrace outside his study for an
hour and I take the opportunity of expounding my view of the
situation. I tell him that, in view of the extraordinarily critical
situation at the front, morale both at home and among the troops
has sunk to an extraordinarily low level. We must succeed in caUing
a halt somewhere since otherwise there is a danger of the whole
Western Front crumbling. I regard this as the right moment for the
Führer to address the nation, both the home front and the troops,
over the radio - the speech need be no more than ten to fifteen
minutes in length. I cite the examples of Churchill during the
British crisis and StaHn during the Russian. They then found the
right words to inspire their people again. In the early days of the
Party struggle we always did this. The Party never experienced a
severe crisis without the Führer addressing them personally and
putting them on their feet again. Now
the moment has come when
the Führer must give the people a signal. I am prepared and deter-
mined to develop a great propaganda campaign from it. But the
watchword must be given by the Führer. I outhne to the Führer the
rough content of his speech as I conceive it. The decisive con-
sideration in all his arguments must be that the people should get a
word from him on which they can pin their hopes. Moreover the
Führer can [half hne illegible] no exaggerated hopes [half Une illeg-
ible] nevertheless some [half line illegible] which in the present
emergency [half line illegible] could be mentioned.
Basically the Führer is in agreement with my proposals. He thinks
home is not bad but it has been infected by the
that in itself morale at
bad morale at the front. In general the home front had suffered very
severe blows without flinching, but the moment it came in contact
with the front its morale sank. The Führer is still of the opinion that
the critical developments in the West are the result of treachery
from on high. The same Army failed at Trier as had already failed at
Avranches. Admittedly changes have been made at command level
but the old spirit is still there. In no other way can it be explained
how so sohd a bunker system as that surrounding Trier should be
abandoned without a fight. This bunker zone was abandoned for
reasons which sound perfectly childish today — that it was preferable
to fight in the open since one could deploy better there and such like.
27 MARCH 1945 247
These reasons were advanced in all seriousness. Today one can see
how misleading they were. The Führer is furious over this
treachery. But at the moment he does not know the quarter from
which it comes. He believes it comes from the headquarters of
Commander-in-Chief West. Here again, however, it is noticeable
that, though the Führer correctly perceives what has happened, he
seldom draws the right conclusions. It is. a fact that the critical
developments began with the loss of the Trier bunker zone. From
this flowed the crossing of the Rhine at Remagen. The crossing at
Remagen resulted either from treachery or a disgraceful neglect of
duty. Operationally only the bridgehead over the Lower Rhine is
adequately manned, proof of the fact that, where our troops resist,
the Anglo-Americans definitely cannot march about as they please.
In most cases the other bridgeheads are no longer under our control.
Whether the reason is lack of morale or actual treachery, this is no
moment to enquire into the reasons but to register the facts, since
the country is in a position of the greatest danger and we must act
accordingly. The Führer finds the fact that the enemy was able to
advance to Würzburg quite inexphcable. He now proposes to bring
up large numbers of units still available in barracks and put as much
of the Luftwaffe into action as is possible. But naturally it will take
time before these measures can take effect. Meanwhile we are
suffering frightful losses of territory with the corresponding loss
of human and war potential. It is questionable whether this can
be made good during the future course of the war. I have the
impression that at the moment the Führer is taking this too Ughtly.
At least he does so to me, though undoubtedly he thinks differently
at heart.
Kesselring's appointment came too late. He should have been put
in Rundstedt's place some months ago. Model is of course an
excellent commander but somewhat too intellectual. Nevertheless
he is a fanatical adherent of the Führer and a true National-Socialist.
Once more I emphasise to the Führer that we must call a halt
somewhere if we are ever to get the better of this war. I am sceptical
whether we shall succeed in doing so iii the next few days. The
Führer is right when he says that the morale of the troops and the
morale at home react on each other. It is also true that in many cases
the troops have infected the home front with their bad morale
because they have not been brought up as National-Socialists.
I am very pleased that the Führer should stress that I was the oiJy
one to be right over the question of withdrawal from the Geneva

Convention. All the others had opposed it, he says. But they are
after all only bourgeois people gone to seed; they have no
248 27 MARCH 1945
conception of revolutionary conduct of war and so could not be

expected to support it. It is really tragic to see the Führer, who is a
revolutionary of the highest order, surrounded by such mediocre
people. He has selected a military entourage which is beneath
contempt. He himself now describes Keitel and Jodl as fuddy-
duddies who are weary and worn out and can make no suggestions
for really great decisions in the present emergency. The only com-
manders who are abreast of modern popular war are Model and
Schörner. Model, as has been said, is an intellectual type; Schörner
puts his heart and soul into the battle. He has undoubtedly achieved
the greatest successes operationally. But that is the end of the Hst of
great army commanders. The SS too has failed to throw up any
specially notable strategists. Even Himmler has not succeeded in
finding one in his ranks. They are good go-getters but not of really
high class.
I point out to the Führer at length that in 1934 we unfortunately
failed to reform the Wehrmacht when we had an opportunity of

doing so. What Rohm wanted was, of course, right in itself but in
practice it could not be carried through by a homosexual and an
anarchist. Had Rohm been an upright soUd personality, in all prob-
abihty some hundred generals rather than some hundred SA leaders
would have been shot on 30 June. The whole course of events was
profoundly tragic and today we are feeUng its effects. In that year
the time was ripe to revolutionise the Reichswehr. As things were
the Führer was unable to seize the opportunity. It is questionable
whether today we can ever make good what we missed doing at
that time. I am very doubtful of it. Nevertheless the attempt must be
made. Now, however, we cannot initiate long-term measures but
must do what the moment demands and it seems to me that that is
the speech by the Führer for which I have asked. At first the Führer
is reluctant to do this because at the moment he can say nothing
positive. I put such pressure on him, however, that in the end he

says that he agrees with my proposal. I must not give way on this
point. It is my national duty to press the Führer to give the people a
watchword for their life and death struggle. I emphasise to the
Führer that 15 minutes over the radio would be quite enough. I
know that this speech will be very difficult. But it should be possible
for the Führer to cite a whole series of positive factors, in particular
as regards the probable future development of the air war. Here the
Führer has great hope, particularly in our new fighters. He tells me
yet again the whole story of the Luftwaffe's development, which I
know since he has frequently explained it to me already. The
Luftwaffe's crisis is definitely of a technical nature and Goring is to
27 MARCH 1945 249
blame. The Führer is now somewhat more inclined to excuse

Goring, however, since, as he says. Goring had insufficient techni-
cal background to foresee this development in time. He has also
been led by the nose by his General Staff This same Luftwaffe
General Staff is now trying to deceive the Führer, particularly as
regards the speed of the new fighter on which he has been given
totally false figures. The Führer, however, intends to punish most
severely any falsehood on important military matters. He is now
taking brutal measures as regards the Luftwaffe's organisation.
On the Führer's behalf Kammler* has now taken charge of the
movement of the new fighters from factory to airfield and con-
struction of the new airfields. The Führer has given him the widest
plenary powers. Goring, though grumbling, has given his agree-
ment. What else can he do? Airfields, aircraft and oil are now the
overriding problems. The results achieved by our new fighters have
been most gratifying so far. If these fighters could appear in great
numbers it is possible that we could sweep our skies clear again.
But, as the Führer explicitly states, it is two seconds to twelve. The
best we can achieve is a last-second turn of fortune. Here hes the real
decision. The reason for our military decay is to be found in the air
terror. So, in our new military measures, we must make a beginning
with the Luftwaffe.
As I have already emphasised, the Führer is now inclined to allow
Goring some freedom from blame. I regard this as absolutely
impossible. It is simply ridiculous now to show any sympathy for a
man who has brought the Reich into such a mortal crisis. He carries
the blame for our ruin and, if only for historical reasons, he must
bear the consequences. The fact that he did not know what he was
doing is immaterial. It would be the last straw if he had consciously
led the Reich into this mortal danger.
Our new fighters are now being manned by close support pilots
instead of fighter pilots. They are more honest, decent and not so
mollycoddled. The Führer pins all his hopes on the use of these new
jet aircraft. The enemy has no effective answer since jet aircraft
cannot operate over Germany from England owing to the fuel
problem. Moreover the Führer is determined to reform the
Luftwaffe from the bottom up. He is thoroughly in agreement with
my reform programme. He thinks that the Luftwaffe's morale is
not so bad as to be irreparable. The morale of our fighter pilots has
sunk so low merely because they were forced to fly inconceivably
bad aircraft in which they were miles inferior to the enemy. Speer
* Officer in charge of V-weapons.

250 27 MARCH I945
too carries some of the blame for the continued production of these
old useless machines, technically no match for the enemy and which
could do us no good. The Führer thinks Saur* a stronger per-
sonahty than Speer. Saur is a tough stayer who, when given a job,
will carry it through, if necessary by force. To some extent he is the
opposite of Speer. Speer is more of an artist by nature. Admittedly
he has great organisational talent but politically he is too inex-
perienced to be totally rehable in this critical time. The Führer
is very angry about recent statements made to him by Speer. Speer
has allowed himself to be influenced by his industrialists and is

continually saying that he does not intend to Hft a finger to cut the
German people's Ufehne; this is for our enemies to do; he does
not intend to take responsibiUty for it. The Führer counters this by
saying that we have to carry the responsibility anyway, that the
point now is to bring the struggle for our people's existence to a
successful conclusion and that tactical questions play only a sub-
ordinate role. The Führer intends to summon Speer during the
afternoon and face him with a stem alternative: either he must
conform to the principles of present-day conduct of the war or the
Führer will dispense with his assistance. He says with much bit-
terness that he would prefer to live in a prefab or creep underground
then have palaces built by a member of his staff who had proved a
failure at the moment of crisis. The Führer uses extraordinarily hard
words about Speer. I do not think that Speer will have an easy time
with him in the next few days. Above all the Führer intends to put
an end to Speer's speechifying which is definitely of a defeatist
nature. Speer is another of those who opposed our withdrawal from
the Geneva Convention. Moreover Bormann was one of them too.
Bormann is not doing very well at the moment. His ideas, par-
ticularly on the question of radicalisation of the war, are not what I
would have expected of him. As I have already said, these people
are semi-bourgeois. Their thinking may be revolutionary but they
do not act that way. Now, however, the revolutionaries must be
brought to the top. I emphasise this to the Führer but the Führer
rephes that he has only a few of such people available. Many of our
Gauleiters in the West also have shown themselves complete weak-
lings. I am very downcast over our lack of fighting spirit in the
West. That Köln, for instance, shovild surrender within an hour is
really shameful. The Führer places the blame for this on the
• Saur was Head of the Technical Office in Speer's Ministry of Munitions. In his
memoirs, Speer describes how Hitler sought to build up Saur at his expense in the
last months. In his Testament, Hitler nominated Saur as Minister of Munitions
instead of Speer.
27 MARCH 1945 251
Wehrmacht but of course the poUtical leadership too must carry a

large share of the blame. What a different picture is presented by
Hanke in Breslau! The Führer refers to him as the Nettelbeck* of
this war and he in fact deserves it. The decline of the Luftwaffe is
also due to the bourgeois elements in it. Goring, after all, is more a
bourgeois than a revolutionary.
But these questions are only marginal One cannot broach these
fundamental questions today; one must simply be glad if one can
muddle along from one day to the next. It is nevertheless right that
the Führer should ensure that Speer is extracted from the toils of
industry, under whose influence he is. He must no longer be the tool
of the economic circles around him. The Führer's decision that we
should leave no war potential behind to the enemy is also right;
otherwise it would very quickly be used against us. It is simple
nonsense to say that we should not assume responsibility for the
destruction of our war potential. History will acquit us if we win the
war. It will not acquit us if we lose it, no matter the reasons for
which this or that happens. We have to carry the responsibiHty and
we must show ourselves worthy of it.
The Führer is already talking of the possible replacement of Speer
by Saur, which in my view is extraordinarily significant. As a result
the situation is highly critical for Speer. In any case I propose to
draw his attention to it. It would be a good thing if the Führer would
apply to the Luftwaffe the severe measures he has in mind for Speer
or the SS troops, for example. This is where they are most necess-
ary. It is to be hoped that the Führer will not only grasp the facts
correctly and say as much but also draw the correct conclusions.
Here in my view lies the great difference between him and Frederick
II; Frederick after all was so ruthless in his measures both against
high and low that he frequently aroused hatred and disgust even
among his troops and his generals. After this talk with the Führer
one could say yet again: "Yes, you are right. Everything you say is
right. But what are you doing about it?"
The way in which the Führer, even in this crisis at the front,
invariably and unswervingly beheves in his lucky star, is truly
admirable. One sometimes has the impression that he is Uving in the
clouds. But he has so often come down from the clouds like a deus ex
machina. He is still convinced that the political crisis in the enemy
camp justifies our having great hopes, however little we can talk
about it at the moment. It grieves me very much that at present he
cannot be persuaded to do something to ensure the growth of this
* Joachim Nettelbeck was a hero of the Napoleonic war, who defended Kolberg
against the French. Goebbels is presumably thinking of his film Kolberg.
252 27 MARCH I945
political crisis. He is making no personnel changes either in the

Reich government or the diplomatic service. Goring is still there;
Ribbentrop is still there. AU the failures - apart from the second
level — are being retained and in my view it would be of decisive
importance for our people's morale to make a change of personnel
in these places. I urge and urge; but I cannot convince the Führer of
the necessity of the measures I propose. So I must put off my
intentions to next time.
As far as the East is concerned, the Führer is pleased with
developments except in Hungary. Schörner is holding firm. He has
scored outstanding defensive victories justifying great hopes. On
the other hand the situation in Hungary is terrible. Here we are
faced with a serious crisis which - as already mentioned - raises the
spectre of the loss of the Hungarian oüfields. The Führer is very
angry that Sepp Dietrich should have hoodwinked him. He left
major units of his Sixth Army at home in order to have them
available as replacement units on his return and so went into action
with 40,000 men instead of 70,000. Naturally this was noticeable as
soon as the offensive began. The Führer proposes to call Dietrich to
account most severely. According to the Führer Sepp Dietrich has
quickly acquired the Wehrmacht's habit of juggling with figures.
The Führer has despatched Himmler to Hungary to put things right
there and institute the necessary punitive measures. Nevertheless it
is estabhshed that the offensive by our SS formations met an enemy
offensive and, had it not been made, we should have lost the oUfields
long ago. In Hungary too everything now hangs by a thread. The
Führer thinks that we must stand firm here if we are not to have the
ground cut from under our feet. But military developments are
such that today's hopes frequently turn into tomorrow's theories.
As I have already stressed, the Führer perceives everything correctly
but he draws no conclusions. It is a real calamity that he has no staff
capable of putting his ideas into practice. Today it is plenty late to
put ideas into practice but there would still be much to be done if the
right men were in the right place. I am determined not to admit that
it is too late and I am firmly convinced that a way out will be found
at the most critical moment. In any case the Führer is doing all that
he can. Fate must then decide. Nevertheless it must be added that
the Führer is taking action on material matters rather than per-
sonnel. The result is that he is increasingly in conflict with his staff
For instance Himmler and Sepp Dietrich are now in high disfavour.
Where will all this lead? What will be left at the end of it all? When I
picture to myself Himmler tearing the armbands off the SS for-
mations, I feel weak at the knees. It will give the SS a real shock. I am
27 MARCH 1945 253
also seriously worried about Sepp Dietrich for he is not the sort of
man to take such a humiliation lying down.
I press the Führer yet again for an early speech. I do not give way
in face of his objections. I tell him of my roll-call in the Ministry this

morning and how it produced throughout the office a greater
revival of morale and determination than I had expected myself I
refer yet again to what Churchill and Stalin did when their countries
were in extreme crisis. The Führer realises this fully and is now
firmly determined to make his speech as soon as possible. I ask his
staff to press him further to ensure that he actually does it.
During this talk the Führer poured out his heart to me to an
unaccustomed extent. I am most happy that I should have his
complete unrestricted confidence. I would so much Uke to help him
in all this worry and distress but my possibihties are limited. In any
case I shall do my utmost to ensure that I cause him no particular
worry from my side. The essential now is that our leaders and our
adherents should fight, hold on and stand firm. We must think and
above all act in a revolutionary way. The moment has now come to
shake off the last bourgeois egg-shells. Half-measures can do no
good now. This is the hour for all-out men and all-out action.
Though the situation may be frightful, we can get the better of it by
exerting all our strength.
Meanwhile the military briefing conference awaits the Führer.
Guderian keeps looking out through the window. He gives an
impression of weariness and agitation. The other flabby-looking
figures are not calculated to reinforce the Führer's steadfastness.
Thank God, however, he possesses enough ofthat naturally and has
no need of reinforcement from others.
I commission Schaub and Albrecht* once more to keep working
on the Führer to ensure that the speech is dictated, if possible within

the next 24 hours. They all promise me to do their best, for they are
all convinced that a speech by the Führer now will work Uke balm
on a wound. So I shall hope for the best - that my visit has achieved
this result. On the other problems I shall go on hammering away in
so far as I can. After all I shall succeed in the end.
Back at home I find a mountain of work. But these days a
mountain of work is invariably a mountain of worries. One hardly
gets good news any more. And outside there is still this lovely
spring weather. Volkssturm battalions pass my window singing. In
Berlin at least wc arc still organising our defence and I am firmly
determined that, if it comes to the crunch here, I will face the enemy
• Hitler's naval adjutant.

254 ^7 MARCH 1945
with unique in the history of this war. How strong are the
a battle
conflicting influences to which any unstable character is subjected
daily at the present time! Sometimes one thinks that one has mas-
tered the impressions of the day; nevertheless sometimes one won-
ders where all this will lead.
Magda has gone to Schwanenwerder to make preparations for
the move of our children there. But she has again somewhat over-
done it and is now ill in bed.That is the last straw.
In the evening, after the Mosquito raid, I thumb through various
papers remaining in
still the safe from the time of our struggle
period. Reading them produces a flood of melancholy memories.
Their effect is almost that of a salute from the good old days which
will never return.
(pp. 1-33, 9 and 10 omitted in page-numbering)

Military Situation.
In Hungary the Soviets, attacking westwards on a broad front,
reached the Raab valley. Farther south they reached the railway line
to Lake Balaton. Apart from a minor break-in all attacks on the
Komorn bridgehead were contained. Our own strong bridgehead
farther east was withdrawn to the north bank of the Danube. Soviet
attacks on the lower Gran were repulsed. At Leva the bolshevists
extended their penetration of the previous day by about lo km; their
leading troops reached the railway leading south to Komorn via
Neuhäusel.
There was very severe fighting in the Mährisch-Ostrau area but
the enemy only succeeded in penetrating at Joslau. All attacks in the
Lcobschütz and Ncisse area were repulsed with a loss to the Soviets
of 85 tanks. All attacks at Strehlen also failed.
In the Küstrin sector an offensive is in progress to clear the
approach to Küstrin and it has already had some initial success. This
offensive will be continued. Strong enemy attacks on our bridge-
head at Zehden failed apart from a minor break-in. Attacks on the
Pölitz bridgehead were all repulsed.
In the Danzig area the enemy continued his attacks, penetrating
deeper into the city's inner defence ring. The country east of Danzig
was flooded by us. According to hitherto unconfirmed reports
German forces on the Belga spit are being transferred to Pillau.
On the Courland front the situation remained unchanged.
The Anglo-Americans were able to make no great progress
anywhere in the Lower Rhine battle zone; in some cases German
counter-attacks were a feature of the situation.
In detail: the enemy captured MiUingen and Brünen. South-east
of Brünen the enemy was driven back by counter-attack on either
sideof Wesel Forest. Between Gahlen and Kirchhellen the enemy
crossed the Sterkrade road and also late in the evening the road
256 28 MARCH 1945
south of Kirchhellen. At Dinslaken the enemy attacked south-

eastwards in strength and reached the autobahn at Hausterbruch.
Two Panzer divisions are being brought up from Holland and,
provided they are not too much delayed by the enemy air forces,
will constitute a considerable reinforcement of our line. Should this
move not be possible owing to heavy enemy air interdiction, the
previous line will not be able to be held in the long run.
In the sector between the Sieg and the Lahn the enemy extended
his penetration at Limburg as far as Arnstein and eastwards towards
Bad Nauheim and Hesselbach.
The enemy moved out of his bridgeheads at St Goar and Kaub
reaching Miehlen, Nastätten and Grebenroth.
The enemy advance from Limburg southwards to the autobahn,
by-passing Wiesbaden on the east, is clearly intended to join up with
the advance westwards across the Main from Frankfurt am Main,
thus cutting off Wiesbaden and parts of the Central Taunus.
Fighting is taking place at Frankfurt main station and the enemy
has crossed the Main west of the city. Counter-attacks by us are in
progress at Hanau. The enemy also crossed the Main at Krot-
zenburg, near Alzenau and at Hörstein. Fluctuating fighting
developed at Aschaffenburg and Schweinheim, but here the enemy
was unable to advance further. He advanced through Lohr as far as
Gemünden, then swung north and thence attacked eastwards again.
Nothing fresh from the Italian front.
Around midday three air formations of medium strength
attacked north-west Germany. Bombs were dropped on Bremen
and Bremen-Farge. West Germany was attacked by 300 close-
support aircraft. Bombs were dropped on Münster, Unna, Hamm
and Kamen. In the afternoon 200 bombers with fighter escort raided
the Paderborn and Bielefeld area. The evening's harassing raid on
Berlin was made by 60 Mosquitos.
This morning a report arrives from Würzburg which sounds more

hopeful. Gau headquarters says that the situation is completely
under control there and that Aschaffenburg has been cleared of the
enemy again. Dr Fischer, head of our Reich Propaganda Office, Has
taken proper care of those who hoisted white flags on the enemy's
approach. In the Mainfranken Gau they will get very rough treat-
ment, which moreover they deserve. On this subject we must
proceed with much greater severity than unhappily we did in the
Rhineland or this sort of defeatism will spread hke a disease.
28 MARCH 1945 257
Tank-destroyer detachments are now in action in the areas over-

run by the Americans and they have already done good work.
Nevertheless they have not been able to prevent the enemy making
extraordinarily large gains of ground in the last 24 hours. There is
no question, therefore, of the hyper-optimism prevalent in Britain
and the USA diminishing at the moment. On the contrary they are
acting as if the war was already won, as if they were meeting
absolutely no further resistance on German soil and as if the German
people was near to coUapse.
The report by the American Press Agency that the capture of the
Main bridges was due to treachery may well be true. In fact there are
leading elements on the Western Front who would like to put an
end to things in the West as quickly as possible and so, directly or
indirectly, are playing into Eisenhower's hands.
Eisenhower's pubhc relations poUcy is at present extraordinarily
adroit and it is causing us considerable difficulties. In his head-
quarters bulletin he changes the probable direction of his advance
every day, so that we can gather nothing worthwhile from the
official enemy announcements. In addition the Americans have
now taken over our Frankfurt wave-length and are trying to play
the same game with the German people as we played with the
French during our western offensive in the summer of 1940. Almost
hourly they put out false reports of the capture of towns and
villages, thus creating the greatest confusion among the German
pubhc. I have now ordered a mihtary transmitter to use our aban-
doned Frankfurt wave-length; it will issue concrete reports and
contradict the enemy's false announcements. I expect it to have a
beneficial effect. I am also having the American false reports con-
tradicted by announcements over the official German radio; they
will be made at the same time as the reports on the air situation.
Eisenhower is somewhat more cautious in his forecasts than his
war reporters. He says that the war in the West can by no means be
written off, that our Western enemies insist on unconditional sur-
render and that consequently stiff German resistance must be reck-
oned with. His war reporters maintain that his purpose is to divide
North and South Germany from each other. If he succeeds in that,
so they say, he will practically have won the war. However he is
letting the British and American pubhc know that he has to sur-
mount extraordinarily difficult supply problems, which is certainly
true, and that his advance is not directed straight on Berlin.
So far, as Eisenhower states, the Anglo-Americans have taken
250,000 prisoners on the Western Front - a shameful figure which
makes one blush. Had my proposal been accepted and had we
258 28 MARCH 1945
withdrawn from the Geneva Convention, things would un-

doubtedly have been quite different. The reception given to the
Anglo-Americans by the people would also be much different from
that which is unhappily the case today. They have been able to
report, for instance, that the people of Limburg welcomed the
Americans with demonstrations of joy and flowers. I think that
these reports are much exaggerated, as indeed are all reports from
the West — including our own; nevertheless it does seem that the
Limburgers did not throw stones at the Americans. Experience
shows that opposition to the enemy occupation authorities only
begins when the people have to some extent recovered their
composure.
It is good news that Oppenhoff, who was installed as Bur-
gomaster in Aachen by the Anglo-Americans, was shot during the

night Tuesday /Wednesday by three German partisans. I think that
Vogelsang, the Burgomaster of Rheydt, will suffer the same fate in
the next few days. Nevertheless I am not satisfied with the work of
our Werwolf orgahisation. It is starting very slowly and it does not
seem that there is adequate pressure behind it. At my next interview
with the Führer I may well try to annex this organisation myself. I
would impart more drive to it than it has at present.
British and American official quarters see no reason at present to
campaign against the hyper-optimism which is the order of the day.
Not only are they joining in this victory psychosis but they are
fuelling it officially. Reuters, for instance, report that the British
War Cabinet has been ordered to hold itself in readiness for a
German surrender over Easter and not to go on hoHday. The same is
reported from the USA. Roosevelt has put his ministers on alert for
victory. But the cloven hoof is in evidence when he adds that
preparations for San Francisco are to be discontinued. That is in fact
the crux of the matter. The San Francisco Conference is due to open
on 25 April and it will face insoluble problems all along the Une. The
Anglo-Americans would naturally prefer, even at the risk of can-
celling the conference, to await a full-scale German surrender, since
they would then be able to exert much greater pressure on the
Kremlin. Here may be a great poHtical opportunity for us. In any
case we must now do our utmost to neutralise the enemy's panic
propaganda now being distributed not only over enemy stations
but by every propaganda method. During the course of the day my
counter-measures are already beginning to take effect. At least there
is now no question of the Radio Frankfurt* reports being widely
* The Allied-controlled broadcasting station.

28 MARCH 1945 259
listened to. alarming to sec how the enemy is turning our own
It is
weapons against us. The only reason, however, is that he has greater
potential and uses it more ruthlessly than we do.
Reconstruction of a new front in the West is, of course, beset by
the great difficulties since our troop resources are extraordinarily
low owing to casualties in killed, wounded and, above all, pris-
oners. As we did a few weeks ago in the East, wê must now try and
make do with makeshift units.
As I have already said, a debate on the peace has taken place in the
Commons. One MP from the Independent Labour Party chal-
lenged Churchill to bring the shooting to an end as soon as possible.
Churchill merely replied: "That sounds very good and pleases me"
— a truly sibylline remark from which no conclusion can be drawn in
any direction.
The Catholic press in Britain, mainly the Catholic Herald, is now
using fairly strong language against bolshevism. The Catholic
Herald in general supports our theories. The paper says that
National-Socialism is better and more tolerable than bolshevism
and, had it not been for the war, would have got over its teething
troubles. In any case it must be regarded as the lesser of two
evils. One can see in these statements the guiding hand of the
Vatican.
The American press too, led moreover by the Jewish journalist
Lippman, is now saying that in practice Germany cannot be des-
troyed, that even after defeat the German people must be accorded a
certain standard of living, in short that the Morgenthau plans are no
more than out-of-date theory.
The Americans are now giving the world notice of their extra-
ordinarily difficult food situation. They are trying to justify the
awful fact thatthey are simply allowing the peoples they have
allegedly liberated to starve. In a cynical phrase it is added that about
one hundred million people will be brought to the verge of star-
vation as a result of the war. Hunger is the Allies' daily dish for
Europe. It is small comfort to us to learn from enemy sources that
German occupation policy in Western countries was considerably
better than that now being pursued by the Allies.
The British are making a battleship available to the Soviets and
the Americans a cruiser. The great traditional maritime powers
have therefore sunk so low that they arc providing from their own
resources a complement to the naval power of their present sworn
enemy.
The only news from the East is that the crisis in Hungary has
become even more acute. Our SS divisions fighting there seem
200 28 MARCH I945
unable to regain their foothold. The oilfield* is now seriously

threatened — sometliing that the Führer wished to avoid in all
circumstances.
Roosevelt has now succeeded in dragging the Argentine into the
war - the last South American country. The reason for the Argen-
tine declaration of war is more than threadbare. Japan is attacked as
South America's main enemy and it is added that war must be
declared on Germanytoo since Germany is alUed to Japan.
An interesting report has reached us from the Duce's head-
quarters to the effect that the Pope sets the greatest store on learning
the German peace conditions for possible negotiation with the
Western Allies. The Führer refuses to meet this request. He
describes the report as absolute nonsense, saying that at the moment
and with the present situation at the front there can be no question
of peace negotiations. In this the Führer is absolutely right. Though
I have invariably advocated not letting things go too far and seeing
whether we could extract ourselves from the war in some way, now
we must first bring the Western Front to a halt again.
In the last 24 hours the air war has not been so bad as in previous
days and weeks. The British have bombed our "Valentin" sub-
marine yard at Bremen and their new heavy bombs have even
penetrated 42 metres of concrete overhead cover. Clearly the revival
of our U-boat war has made a great impression on the West.
American bombers have not taken off in the last 24 hours, only
British. In addition they attacked transport installations, at present
the most essential target for the Western Powers. At midday we
have another air raid on BerUn, though only by 600 American
bombers. They bombed primarily industrial targets in Siemens-
stadt and Marienfelde. Here we were treated to saturation bom.bing
which is very bad for industrial installations. Daimler-Benz will be
out of action for three to four weeks — a grievous loss. But the raid
on the Reich capital was not as bad as I had initially supposed. We
are listing only 80 killed. The number of homeless is very small
since housing areas were not hard hit.
It is deplorable that Berlin should continually be losing its defence
capability. The replacement units having already been taken for the
front, even more anti-aircraft units, 14 heavy batteries this time, are
being removed from BcrUn and sent to the front. If this goes on, all
my measures for raising the defence preparedness of the Reich
capital serve little purpose, since Berlin cannot be held with the
Volkssturm alone. I shall nevertheless try to maintain at least a
* See above p. 245.

28 MARCH 1945 261
certain degree of purely military defence capability since I am still

counting on a serious threat to the capital in the near or very near
future.
As was be expected, no agreement has been reached over the
to
question of the new taxation programme. The Ministry of Finance
insists on its consumption tax. This anti-social tax cannot and must
not be accepted. We must turn to an increase of income tax and then
will undoubtedly achieve the desired result. In any case we must not
allow ourselves to be diverted on to a false trail by pressure from
industrial and business circles.
At midday I have a prolonged visit from Gauleiter Hildebrandt
from Mecklenburg. He lays before me all the well-known worries
about the front-line situation, the domestic situation, morale and so
forth. I can only say to him what I have said to so many Gauleiters
recently. At least I manage to send him back to his work con-
siderably reinvigorated and encouraged. His statement that, seen
from Mecklenburg, the food situation is considerably better than
we had hitherto supposed, is encouraging. Mecklenburg still has
ample reserve stocks available. They have been reduced to some
extent owing to the gigantic refugee convoys which have moved
through the Gau - estimated at over four miUion. In addition to its
900,000 inhabitants Mecklenburg now has 1,700,000 evacuees, in
other words nearly 100% overcrowding. One can imagine the
result in this sparsely built-up country. But after all these are minor
worries. An agricultural Gau like Mecklenburg will soon cope with
them. What are they compared to the problems now faced by our
Gauleiters in the West?
Dr Ley has been to the Führer and submitted to him the question
of formation of a Free Corps. .It is to be named the "Adolf Hitler
Free Corps" and be composed of activists formed into tank-
destroyer units equipped with bazookas, assault guns and bicycles.
In itself the idea is good but I would not expect the Führer to entrust
the command of such a Corps to Dr Ley. By his last pubhshed
articles he has forfeited all credibility. * In it he referred to the front
and the air war in terms of such total cynicism that one could only
shudder. Ley wants to talk to me on the question of formation of the
Free Corps. I shall give him my opinion quite frankly. In any case
the Free Corps idea miist be given better and more soUd publicity
support than can be done by Dr Ley.
As the day goes on the enemy's panic announcements increase. I
urge the Führer to make his speech over the radio as soon as
* See above p. 90.

202 28 MARCH I945
possible. It is now as essential as daily bread. Only a speech by the

Führer can bring the people back to order. Moreover I believe that
this is entirely possible by means of such a speech. At the moment
the people has somewhat lost its nerve. But that is not the worst of
all evils. As soon as the home front is in order again the front-Hne
situation will quickly be reconsoUdated.

In the evening I again take out some old papers and find there a
mass of reminiscences from the movement's struggle period w^hich
make me very hopeful. Then too we were sometimes facing ruin
but we always succeeded in the end in snatching victory from the
most awkward situations. This will be so again even in the present
(pp- 1-37)
Military Situation.
In Hungary the Bolshevists continued their attack westwards in
strength. They crossed the Raab at several points and penetrated
into the southern quarter of the town ofthat name. Leading enemy
troops are at Csorna and Särvar. Enemy attacks between the Raab
valley and Lake Balaton were held on a stop-line running south-east
to the western tip of Lake Balaton. Continuing his attacks all along
the Gran sector the enemy drove German troops back to a line
running northwards to the north-east of Neuhäusel. Further attacks
on this line were in some cases repulsed and in others achieved local
penetrations. The enemy penetrated somewhat deeper into our
Komorn bridgehead. In addition he extended the front of his offen-
sive on the Gran into Slovakia. An attack on either side of
Königsburg made two minor break-ins. The situation at Neusohl is
in general unchanged. A new development is a concentrated attack
north of the High Tatra, where the enemy used four to five
divisions and penetrated to some depth. Soviet attacks in battalion
strength between Bielitz and Ratibor were repulsed. A complete
defensive victory was scored at the sensitive points of the defensive
battle in Silesia— Ratibor, Leobschütz, Ziegenhals and Neisse. Bres-
lau successfully beat off enemy attacks.
Küstrin was extraordinarily heavily attacked from north, east and
south. The enemy penetrated Old Town. The garrison has
into the
lost 70 % of its officers, large numbers of men and its heavy
weapons. Fighting continues, however, in the Old Town. Our
attack on Küstrin from the west led to further improvement of our
positions. There was increased enemy reconnaissance activity from
the Zehden bridgehead to Stettin. Strong Soviet attacks on the
Pölitz bridgehead necessitated evacuation of the Pölitz factory.
The enemy penetrated into Gotenhafen and Danzig. Remnants of
The
the garrisons are holding out in the eastern parts ofboth places.
204 29 MARCH 1945
remainder of Fourth Army, which has been involved in heavy

fighting for weeks, has now been transferred to Pillau with its
commander after heroic resistance.
Our troops again scored a complete defensive victory on the
Courland front. The enemy did succeed in making a break-in
immediately east of Frauenburg, but it was held deep in the battle
zone.
In the Dutch zone of the Western Front the enemy captured
Mechelen. Whether this is the begirming of i Canadian Army's
offensive is not yet clear.
In the battle on the Lower Rhine the enemy advanced south from
Rees and reached Anholt. Leading enemy troops advancing north
from the Dingden area reached the southern outskirts of Bocholt. In
severe fighting farther east the enemy captured Raesfeld and then,
advancing north, took Borken. Dorsten too fell into enemy hands.
In violent fighting the enemy advanced from Munx Wood to
Gladbeck. Advancing south he captured Hamborn.
Our switch position between the Sieg and the Lahn was moved
north to Betzdorf On the Dill the main hne runs through Butzbach
and Herborn. The enemy's main offensive was directed eastwards
between Herborn and Wetzlar. Here he passed through Giessen and
his leading troops are moving on Marburg. After capturing Giessen
the enemy is trying to fan out northwards, north-eastwards, east-
wards, south-eastwards and southwards.
Fierce street fighting continues in the battle for Frankfurt am
Main. Enemy tanks advancing north from Hanau reached Kilian-
stetten; their object is clearly to gain contact with the formations
moving south from Giessen. South of Hanau enemy forces moving
out of the Kahlwies-Altenau bridgehead were driven back by
counter-attack. Enemy detachments which had advanced through
the Lohr area were annihilated.
From the bridgehead north of Mannheim the enemy advanced
farther towards the mountain highway, reaching Weinheim from
the north and Heddesheim and Wallstadt east of Mannheim. We are
in process of forming a line along the Weinheim-Ladenburg rail-
way. In this area enemy attacks on the western slope of the Oden-
wald were in general held.
No fresh news from the ItaHan front
There was sustained enemy air activity on the Eastern Front. In
the central sector, for instance, 1300 Soviet aircraft were in action.
Our own close-support aircraft again carried out successful attacks
on enemy tanks in the south and centre. Eleven Soviet aircraft were
shot down.
29 MARCH 1945 265
On the Western Front air activity was reduced owing to

unfavourable weather.
Over Reich territory 900 American four-engined bombers with
fighter escort made dayhght raids in two groups, attacking indus-
trial targets and built-up areas in Berlin and Hannover. Both raids
were described as medium to heavy. Reports of aircraft shot down
by our fighters are not yet available. Four aircraft were shot down
by anti-aircraft. Some 40 Flying Fortresses dropped numerous HE
bombs on Minden. HE bombs were also dropped on Stendal air
base. There were no night raids over Reich territory. Even the series
of Mosquito raids on Berlin was interrupted for the first time.
The military situation in the West is characterised mainly by sinking

morale both among the civil population and among the troops. This
lossof morale imphes great danger for us since a people and an army
no longer prepared to fight cannot be saved, however great the
reinforcements in men and weapons. In Siegburg, for instance, a
women's demonstration took place outside the Town Hall demand-
ing the laying down of arms and capitulation. In a radio message
Grohe denies that this women's demonstration was ofany great size
and maintains that it has been artificially exaggerated by
Commander-in-Chief West. Nevertheless the fact remains that,
even though they may be on a smaller scale than described, such
incidents did take place. The same general trend emerges from the
report on the situation there given me by Lieutenant-Colonel
Balzer on his return from the West. The report starts by saying that
large-scale demoraHsation has set in in the West, that a vast army of
stragglers is on the move eastwards, that east-bound trains are
crammed with armed men, that there is no longer any question of
firm cohesion anywhere, and that in places detachments of Volks-
sturm can be seen marching westwards while the regular troops
set off towards the east. This is, of course, extraordinarily menacing
and gives rise to the greatest anxiety. I am convinced that we shall
succeed in re-estabHshing some sort of order in this wildly milling
mob. But, the war having moved so far onto German territory, we
can no longer afford to abandon large areas as is usually associated
with such proceedings. The Americans are already saying that they
are only 150 miles from Berhn. This is not true but I believe that
they are trying to divert our attention in a false direction by such
266 29 MARCH 1945
announcements. This is obvious from the fact that Montgom-

also
ery, in his statement, says that he is going to advance as far as the
Reich capital if possible. In actual fact it is my impression that the
enemy's objective is Prague. We shall be able to offer him a great
deal of resistance before he reaches that point; nevertheless it seems
to me certain that the Anglo-Americans intend to reach the Pro-
tectorate before the Soviets.
Our parachute troops are putting up particularly tough resistance
in the Wesel area. Here one can still refer to a firm Hne of resistance.
The exaggerated reports of mihtary victories in the West have led
to a real frenzy of rejoicing in the enemy camp. In the United States,
in fact, it A stock-exchange boom in
has produced real chaos.
German Wall Street circles are promising
securities has started.
themselves gigantic deals with the defeated and devastated Euro-
pean continent.
The surrender and peace talks have now been launched into
international pubUcity via Stockholm. I have nothing much against
this since, if we succeed in re-establishing a firm defence line, the
reawakening on the Western side will be all the ruder. As my
experiences with the German people show, psychological set-backs
of this nature have most disagreeable repercussions. It is also to the
good that the enemy should continue to insist that Eisenhower has
already signed the act of surrender with the Führer in Berchtes-
gaden. We are hardly troubhng to deny such rumours since they
are disproved by the facts themselves.
As Wesel area is concerned, our parachute troops are
far as the
defending themselves Uke fighting madmen, in the words of the
enemy press. The parachute divisions' morale is excellent. They
represent the sole useful achievement of Luftwaffe headquarters.
In London people are somewhat more circumspect in the dis-
semination of military victory reports than in the United States,
though even here they far overshoot the mark. It is being stated, for
instance, that the enemy is already in Nuremberg or Leipzig and is
marching straight on Dresden.
A report that the Burgomaster of Mannheim offered the city's
surrender to the Americans over the telephone is really mortifying.
This is a totally new way of conducting a war and one to which we
are not accustomed. It is in fact true that morale in the West is still
worse than it ever was in the East. I beheve the reason to be that both
our soldiers and the civil population expect to be treated more
humanely by the Anglo-Americans than by the Bolshevists. Had
we withdrawn from the Geneva Convention in good time, as I
proposed, things would probably be very different.

29 MARCH 1945 267
In the evening I get the news from Gerland* that 400 enemy
vehicles, most of them armoured, have reached Korbach. In this

area, therefore, there is absolutely no question of active resistance.
We shall probably have to wait a week or
a fortnight before it
effectively makes
appearance.
its
Now, of course, the great moment has arrived for the war-
mongers on the enemy side. Vansittartt declares flatly that the
problem of war criminals is simply one of the location of the
gallows and the length of rope. This crazy gangster can still shoot
off his mouth in England without anyone more sensible calHng him
to order.
I have had submitted to me an essay by Churchill written about
the Führer in 193 5. t The essay is extraordinarily characteristic of
Churchill. He evinces great admiration for the Führer's personaHty
and achievements but forecasts that whether he can retain his fame
in history will depend on his further measures (from 1935
onwards).
Public opinion in England as a whole is certainly not basking in
the sunshine. On the contrary, our foreign poHtical situation report
invariably stresses that scepticism about present war developments
is now slowly spreading from the aristocracy, the church and
leading military circles to the middle class. The future of the British
Empire is regarded as being extremely perilous, although against
this it must be said that ChurchiU is still master of the situation.
There is general agreement with him that the German threat must
first be eUminated before addressing oneself to the bolshevist threat.
This seems to me to be the idea of the American war leaders also at
present. In any case we cannot at present hope to profit much from
enemy camp.
the signs of disintegration in the
The Japanese in Berhn, even including those in the Embassy,
have become very defeatist. Nevertheless they are urging us to
continued resistance, following the old rule that any enemy whom
we kill will not have to be killed by the Japanese.
The chaos developing in the remaining parts of Europe is increas-
ing with giant strides. News of starvation and epidemics comes
from every quarter; the British, in fact, are good enough to
prophesy the Black Death and the plague for the European quarter
of the globe in the immediate and more distant future.
* Gauleiter of Kurhessen.
t Lord Vansittart, former Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the British
Foreign Office, was particularly hated by the Nazis for his strong anti-German
views, expressed in his pamphlet Black Record.
t Pubhshed in his book Great Contemporaries (1937).
268 29 MARCH I945
Greenwood, the British Labour MP,* gives an extremely

gloomy picture of coming developments in individual European
countries. Their outlines are already clearly visible. A hunger
demonstration by 100,000 men has taken place in Lyons, directed
specifically against de Gaulle. De Gaulle is being violently attacked
because of his food policy. His regime seems to be in serious danger.
Bidault, the present Foreign Minister, is already being talked of as
his probable successor. Bidault is a committed Anglophile and I
assume that the British wîll have a decisive word to say in present
developments in France.
Comment on the Rumanian problem is now taking on a sharper
tone in America. At the moment, however, the Soviets are not
reacting at all. The Americans, however, clearly think that, in view
of their mihtary successes in the West, they can afford to put
pressure on the Soviets at present.
Mikolajczyk is laying down terms for his return to Poland They .
are naturally totally unacceptable to the Kremlin. He is demanding

that deportations be stopped at once, that the NKVDt
be with-
drawn from Poland and that free elections be held under the super-
vision of the Alhed Powers — in short that everything that the
Kremlin has initiated or planned in Poland be cancelled. StaUn's
answer to these demands will undoubtedly be a simple sneer.
The Seydlitz Committee is now at work on the Kremlin's behalf

even in neutral countries. I have in front of me propaganda material
distributed in Sweden, for instance, by this traitor general. The
argumentation put forward in these disquisitions is extraordinarily
naive. One could tear one's hair out at the pohtical stupidity evinced
here. I think, however, that this is a case of stupidity rather than
treachery.
Following the outcome of the recent election the bolshevisation
of Finland is proceeding at a somewhat faster tempo. Mannerheim
is admittedly still in office but he has apparently Httle voice in affairs
and the Soviets will undoubtedly remove him shortly.

Anfuso, hitherto ItaHan Ambassador in Berlin, has been nomi-
nated State Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He is a somewhat
kaleidoscopic personahty. He is described by proper fascists as one
of BadogUo's second-level hangers-on. In any case we do hot have
to worry about him very much. Fascism and the social-fascist
republic are so impotent that it is fairly immaterial who occupies the
various ministerial posts in Mussolini's cabinet.
• Arthur Greenwood, MP for Wakefield and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party,
t The Soviet Security Service, now KGB.
29 MARCH 1945 269
Hannover was raided yesterday in addition to Berlin. The two

raids were described as medium to heavy. Reich territory was
clear of enemy aircraft during the night. For the first time for 35
days Berlin was not given the compliment of its Mosquito raid.
Among the inhabitants of the Reich capital this produced a sort
of definite disappointment. When the Mosquitos did not arrive m
the evening, everyone naturally expected that they would come
during the night. They probably stayed away for reasons of
weather.
I am now very busy with the so-called Werwolf organisation.
Werwolf is intended to activate partisan activity in enemy-occupied
districts. This partisan activity has by no means got off to a good
start. Here and there certain noticeable actions have been reported
such as, for example, the shooting of the Burgomaster installed by
the Americans in Aachen; for the moment, however, no systematic
activity is visible. I would Uke to take over direction of this partisan
activity myself and I shall possibly ask the Führer to give me the
necessary powers. I shall set up a newspaper for Werwolf and also
make available a radio transmitter with powerful beam facihties;
both wiU carry the same name. Announcements both in the news-
paper and over the radio will be in definitely revolutionary terms
without any external or internal pohtical restraints. In the present
war situation Werwolf should be what the Angriff was during our
struggle period when we were fighting not only for Berlin but for
the Reich; in fact it should be a rallying point for aU activists who are
not prepared to adopt the course of compromise.
At midday Dr Ley pays me a visit in order to tell me in detail of
the plans for the "Adolf Hitler Free Corps". I have a considerable
rumpus with him on the subject. The way in which Dr Ley vis-
ualises formation of the Free Corps is impracticable. He hasgot the
Führer to sign a decree prescribing that all activists from the Party
and the Volkssturm should join this Free Corps. Were that actually
to happen, the Volkssturm in Berlin, for instance, and in many
other Gaus would lose its backbone and be of no further miHtary
value. In addition the organisation of the Free Corps as planned by
Dr Ley seems to me to be on a shaky foundation. Dr Ley is setting to
work with great enthusiasm; but one knows how shallow such
enthusiasm is with him and how quickly it can ebb away. He is a
man of short-lived passions and, whatever happens, we must ensure
that the assembly of activists planned by him is presented in serious,
responsible fashion. I also fear that he personally has not the repu-
tation to cause the activists to stake their all. I give him all this quite
openly as food for thought. Reichsleiter Bormann also shares my
IJO 29 MARCH 1945
apprehensions. Dr Ley promises to revise the decrees which he is

proposing to issue and we have a further discussion in the evening.
The revised decrees which he submits to me are approximately in
line with what I had imagined such a Free Corps would be. The
proclamation of the Free Corps is not to be made over the radio and
aimed at the general pubUc; I will include it in my daily circular to
Gauleiters. The Gauleiters themselves are in a position to provide
the 10,000 activists, the number required for the Free Corps from
the Reich as a whole.
I am sending about 30 of the best speakers in the Party to the West
so that they can help rc-estabHsh the morale of the troops and the
civil population. I assemble them before their departure in order to
give them directives and guide-lines for their oratorical activity.
The overriding necessity is that we should learn to work with
improvised methods. The large-scale technical propaganda media
which we have had so far - the radio, wired broadcasting, the press,
etc. — are now largely non-existent in the West. To achieve success
man-to-man talking is necessary.
I discuss with Staatsrat [Privy Councillor] Tietjen of the Berlin
State Opera certain people connected with the theatre. The artists of
the Berlin State Opera have largely vanished from Berlin and are
leading a drone-like parasitical existence in Upper Bavaria or the
Tyrol, drawing their high salaries through the post. In general I am
very dissatisfied with the poUtical attitude of our artists. But one
cannot expect them to be very courageous. They are merely artists,
in other words in political matters totally indifferent, not to say
characterless.
Some voluminous material has been submitted to me intended to
initiate astrological or spiritualistic propaganda; it includes the so-
called horoscope of the German Republic of 9 November 191 8 and
also the Führer's horoscope. The two horoscopes are in striking
agreement. I can understand why the Führer has forbidden people
to concern themselves with such uncontrollable matters. Neverthe-
less it is interesting that both the Republic's horoscope and that of
the Führer predict some relief of our military situation for the
second half of April; on the other hand the position will deteriorate
in May, June and July, whereas apparently hostilities should cease
by mid-August. May God grant that this is so. Admittedly we
should be facing some difficult months; nevertheless if one knew
that the worst period of the war would be over this year, these
months would be considerably more tolerable than they will be in
fact. For me these astrological prophecies are of no significance
whatever. I intend, however, to use them in anonymous camou-
29 MARCH 1945 271
flagcd public propaganda since, in these critical times, most people

will snatch at any straw.*
Once again there is alarming news from the West this evening.
The enemy has advanced north of Marburg as far as Winterberg; he
is near Fulda. He has widened his break-through at Giessen con-
siderably. At the moment we have no regular troops available with

which to oppose him. We are at present relying exclusively on
part-time units. But we did this in the East a few weeks ago with
great success. Our parachute divisions in the Wesel area are doing
well. There one can still talk of an evenly matched war.
In the East developments in Hungary are extraordinarily critical
and disagreeable. On the other hand Schörner has succeeded in
beating off even the heaviest Soviet attacks in Upper Silesia. In
Courland our brave divisions have once more succeeded in defeat-
ing all enemy attempts to break through. In Küstrin the garrison is
fighting on the outskirts of the town, also in Danzig and Gotenha-
fen. Overall, of course, this situation is terrible; taking only the
military situation into account and looking at the map, one could
almost lose one's nerve. But war is not only a military but also a
political phenomenon and its development depends on so many
imponderables that at critical stages it is impossible to forecast even
with semi-accuracy. Above all the lessons of history, which are
unmistakable and entirely justify our present-day standpoint, give
us firm support in the present phase of the war.
I am forcibly reminded of this when I suddenly get a telephone
call from Breslau in the evening. By some method which he cannot

describe in detau Hanke has succeeded in getting a telephone line to
Berlin. During our telephone conversation he expresses himself as
full of hope, is in good shape and emphasises that he can hold
Breslau for an unpredictable time. As far as political attitude and
character are concerned Hanke is undoubtedly our best Gauleiter.
Had our Gauleiters in the West acted as he has, the situation there
would probably be very different from what it in fact is.
This time the British Mosquitos arrive in the middle of the night
and tear the millions of inhabitants of the Reich capital away from
their well-earned rest. It would be very unfortunate if the British
persist in this procedure of Mosquito raids by night in future. It
would mean that temporarily there would be no question of any
regular nightly rest in Berlin.
* Goebbels was soon to make use of these horoscopes. See The Last Days of Hitler,
p. no.
FRIDAY 30 MARCH 1945
(pp. 1-46)
Military Situation.
In the East the main centres of fighting were in Hungary and the
Mährisch-Ostrau area.
In Hungary the Soviets attacked our forward positions west of
Kaposvar and penetrated in some places. At the north-west corner
of Lake Balaton the enemy was held at Keszthely. Between Kes-
zthely and Steinamanger the Bolshevists broke through our stop-
line and reached Zalaegerszeg. These co-ordinated attacks are
directed on the Nagy Kanizsa oilfield. On the German-Hungarian
frontier the enemy penetrated into Steinamanger and Guns and
reached Kaposvar, moving along the Raab-Wiener Neustadt rail-
way. His attacks on Raab failed. North-east of Raab the enemy
succeeded in crossing the river and moving some kilometres up the
Danube. The enemy also made violent attacks on our positions on
the Neutra between Komom, Neuhäusel and Neutra. He was able
to make some deep penetrations north of Neuhäusel. The bol-
shevists also made violent attacks and achieved penetrations in the
Slovakian mountain country between Neutra and Neusohl. The
cohesion of our front was maintained however.
In the fighting around Mährisch-Ostrau the Bolshevists con-
tinued their attacks uninterruptedly but fruitlessly. Only between
Ratibor and Jägerndorf did they make certain penetrations, some of
which were dealt with by counter-attack. Our operations improved
our positions south of Breslau. The garrison of Küstrin was pressed
back farther. Radio communications have been interrupted at
present. On the Oder front as far as Stettin the enemy renewed his
efforts to cross the river. Some battle groups are still resisting in
Danzig. The Soviets again attacked heavily in Courland and
achieved local penetrations along the Mitau-Frauenburg road. The
loss of the Baltic ports is considerably hampering the supply of
Courland.
30 MARCH 1945 273
Onthe Lower Rhine the British and Canadian forces made

further progress, advancing northwards through Bocholt towards
the Dutch frontier and through Borken to a point midway between
Borken and Coesfeld. Moving along the Dorsten-Coesfeld railway
they reached Gross-Reken, some 1 5 km south-west of Coesfeld.
Leading enemy tanks moving along the Wesel-Münster road pene-
trated into Dülmen and then, advancing east through Haltern,
approached Lüdenhausen. Moving forward from Dorsten and
Gladbeck enemy forces captured the area north-west and south-
west of Recklinghausen. No change on the Rhine-Sieg front. The
strong American battle group in the Marburg-Biedenkopf area is
now bringing up reinforcements and swinging mainly northwards.
Its leading troops have reached Winterberg, Brilon and Aüdorf.
They moved through Korbach towards Arolson and through Sach-

senhausen north-eastwards. Enemy forces from Frankenberg
reached the Bad Wildungen area. The autobahn viaduct over the
Werra at Hannoversch-Münden was blown up. From the Marburg
area the enemy reached Kirchhain and from the Giessen area he
reached Lauterbach via Grünberg and Ulrichstein. This advance is
directed on Fulda. From Hanau enemy forces advanced north-
eastwards to the Nidda area and from Osten they reached a point
west of Gelnhausen. The enemy moved south from Aschaffenburg
and reached the Klingenberg area. A switch line was estabhshed
here running roughly from Klingenberg east of Michelstadt, Ober-
bach, Neckarsteinach and Schriesheim, north of Heidelberg to
Altrip on the Rhine. The enemy broke through our switch line
between Heidelberg and Mannheim and crossed the Neckar.
No special reports from the Italian front.
Enemy both over the front and over Reich territory
air activity
was small owing to weather conditions. About 1 50 British bombers
raided the Salzgitter area. There was a harassing raid on Berlin
during the night.
Our Western enemies now think that the slight revival of our
ward off a German
resistance represents Kesselring's last attempt to
catastrophe. They say, however, that the Anglo-American advance
has been beyond all expectation, so that Kesselring's efforts can
have no success; there is no organised resistance to be found any
longer; the Anglo-American tanks can drive about as they like. In
general terms this is true apart from the Lower Rhine area where
274 30 MARCH 1945
our parachute troops are still putting up fanatical resistance with

which Montgomery has so far been quite unable to deal.
In the light of this situation in the West it is clear that anxiety
about the U-boat war in Britain and America is slowly dis-
appearing. There had recently been much beating of breasts about
the reappearance of our U-boats on the high seas but now the view
is that this threat is of Httle importance.
Spaak, the Belgian Foreign Minister, has addressed the country's
socialist congress and declared that Belgium is not interested in
dismemberment of the Reich. Spaak has clearly got cold feet since
he adds that any intention to sever the Rhineland from the Reich, for
instance, would be the cause of the next (third) world war.
The dispute in the enemy camp about the forthcoming San
Francisco Conference has now assumed considerable proportions,
primarily on the question of numbers of votes. The Kremhn is
demanding three votes for the Soviet Union — for various parts of
the Soviet empire. The Soviets clearly intend to manoeuvre the
Anglo-Americans into a corner. They are not particularly keen on
the San Francisco Conference anyway. They know that decisions
will have to be taken there - and on questions which were shelved at
Yalta. No decision has yet been taken in Moscow on reconstruction
of the Pohsh government. The Kremhn is allowing the problem to
drag on inordinately and the question now arises" how the Pohsh
government is to be represented in San Francisco at aU. The most
grotesque of all would be if Poland, which began this war anyway,
had neither a seat nor a vote in San Francisco. Moscow's interest
naturally is to let the matter drag on without allowing it to lead to
open conflict with Roosevelt and Churchill. But the Americans are
not going to allow themselves to be led up the garden path. They
say that there must be clarity on the Pohsh question by the time the
San Francisco Conference opens and that, whatever happens, the
Poles must be represented there. If no solution has been found by
that time, this could be a cause celebre for our enemies' relationships
within the coalition.
The Catholic press in England, led by the Catholic Herald, con-
tinues to attack bolshevism sharply. Its language could not be
bettered by the German press. I assume that this violent attack is
being made on instructions from the Vatican.

This is the most horrible Good Friday I have ever had in my hfe.
There is not the smallest sign of a holiday mood anywhere. The
only ray of light is that the enemy air war has eased ofFsomewhat in
the last 24 hours. But we can pin no hopes on that. The reason is
simply the bad weather conditions in Britain.
30 MARCH 1945 275
Developments in the West naturally give rise to the greatest

anxiety. Kesselring has not yet succeeded in forming even the
beginnings of a defence line. Looking at the map, one could well
gain the impression that this is the beginning of catastrophe in
the West; the most lamentable feature is that neither the civil popu-
lation nor the troops possess the necessary morale to continue the
fight.
Developments in Hungary are an equal source of anxiety. We
soon be seriously faced with the question whether we can hold
shall
the oilfield. The Soviets are anyway already across the German
Sepp Dietrich's Sixth Army has simply allowed itself to be
frontier.
swept away by them.
Speer has been to the Führer to discuss an emergency armaments
programme with him. This led to a most dramatic showdown
about Spcer's political attitude. The Führer criticised him severely
for being too closely harnessed to industry and representing trends
which cannot be brought into consonance with the National-
Socialist concept of war. Speer ate humble pie; nevertheless he
persuaded the Führer to water down the recent decree concerning
destruction of industrial installations in districts occupied by the
Anglo-Americans; paralysis is now permitted if it achieves the
desired object and neither paralysis nor destruction of industry and
armaments installations is required if arms production can be con-
tinued even though severely threatened.
The Führer calls me over at midday in order to discuss with me
once more the question of his speech to the German people. I have
the impression that at the moment he has no great inclination to
make it. He tells me that he has initiated extraordinarily large-scale
measures of a military nature in the West. These military measures
must first have some visible effect before he can appear before the
people. There is no question of this at the moment. The fighting
m.orale of the troops cannot be stimulated as long as they are
unsupported by new formations and new weapons. Overall he has
reinforced the western zone with about 150 battaÜons impeccably
equipped. They arc on the move up but it will be a day or two before
they can be in action. The map shows a number of deep holes in the
front which must be plugged as best we may. He is making truly
titanic efforts to carry out this job but unfortunately gets only
limited support from his military staff. I have the impression that
the Führer has been greatly overworked in the last few days. During
the last 24 hours, for instance, he has only had two hours' sleep. The
reason is that he has no military staff capable of taking much of the
detail from him. For example he has had to send Guderian on leave
276 30 MARCH 1945
because he had become completely hysterical and nervy and so was

a cause of disturbance instead of good order. General Krebs, who
has long been Chief-of-StafF to Model, is coming in place of
Guderian. * Krebs is an outstanding personality. For a time he was
Military Attache in Moscow but has not been spoiled by diplomatic
activity, A particularly talented member of Guderian's staff is Gen-
eral Wenckt who has briefed me on several occasions. Unfor-
tunately when he last drove to Army Group Vistula to deal with
mihtary operations in Pomerania, he was badly hurt in a car acci-
dent and is still in hospital. Model, of course, would be another
person on whom one can rely; at the moment, however, he is facing
almost insoluble problems since he does not have available the
troops needed to deal with the situation in the West. He cannot,
therefore, hold out in the long run unless reserves can be provided.
Kesselring - as the Führer re-emphasises — arrived in the West too
late and he cannot therefore form a firm front in the West as he did in
Italy.
The Führer stresses yet again that the morale of the troops and
that of the civil population are interdependent. He is firmly con-
vinced, he says, that the troops have infected the civilians with their
bad morale, not the civilians the troops. The disaster in the West
originated troops, not from the other ranks but from the
from the
staffs and Nevertheless we must now make every effort to
officers.
re-establish a fresh front and suitable measures have already been
initiated even though they are of an improvised nature. Our
economic losses are, of course, fearful, particularly in coal and
steel. We first lost the Upper Silesian industrial zone; then the Saar
was wrested from us and now half the Ruhr area has already
gone.
The Führer is now busy with Speer reorganising our weaponry.
We must now embark on an arms production programme requir-

ing less steel and therefore less coal. The Führer is very angry at the
fact that he has to do most of this work himself He does not get the
necessary support in the Armaments Ministry either. Speer, he says,
is not the strong personality that he had always made himself out to
be; Saur outstrips him both in energy and capacity for impro-
visation.
The Wehrmacht generals are now real obstacles to the revival of
our fortunes in the West. Our Wehrmacht generals, particularly
those on the Führer 's staff, bend before every breeze that blows.
* i.e. as Chief of Army General Staff.
t A young General who rose to influence after 20 July 1944. Hitler would rely on
him, in the last days of the war, to relieve Berlin.
30 MARCH 1945 277
The Führer has to expend much of his time and energy laboriously
propping them up daily and putting a bit of whalebone into their
jackets. As he emphasises to me, it is a real labour of Hercules. I
notice how severely he has been affected by this labour. I have never
seen his hand so shaky as during this conversation.
I then brief the Führer in detail about the propaganda measures I
have initiated for the West. He is very pleased with the information
we have published about Anglo-American despotic measures. He is
also very pleased with my expose concerning the Werwolf organ-
isation and propaganda for it. It is essential that we now refer to the
Anglo-Americans in harsher terms. The fact that we have been
over-reticent on this point is the reason why the Anglo-Americans
are considered more humane than the Soviets by the German
people.
I cannot conceal from the Führer that Dr Dietrich* is making
just as great difficulties about this propagandahe previously
as
did about the anti-bolshevist atrocity propaganda. I quote certain
examples to the Führer which make him very angry. He makes up
his mind on the spot to give Dr Dietrich leave of absence from his
office at once and appoint Lorenz to deputise for him. Lorenz,
however, will not be appointed to the office of Reich Press Officer
but will be Press Officer attached to the Führer himself This will be
a great relief for me. Dr Dietrich is an inveterate weakling who is
not up to the present crisis. At this time only strong men arc of use,
above all men who will unquestioningly carry out their assign-
ments. This is not the case with Dr Dietrich. He wears me out just as
the Führer is worn out by his generals. With men like Dr Dietrich
how am I supposed to conduct propaganda, such as that for the
Werwolf movement at present, which must be of an extraordinarily
radical nature.
The Führer has had a letter from Streicher asking for some
assignment in the Fatherland's extreme emergency and saying that
he can no longer endure just to remain in his own house in the
country. The Führer asks whether perhaps I can give him some-
thing to do. It is possible that I could use Streicher in the Werwolf,
for after all he is a man of great energy. He could make five- minute
speeches which, however, I would have to revise thoroughly
beforehand. I will get in touch with Streicher. In any case the Führer
would be happy if I could give Streicher some employment. At
heart the Führer is somewhat uncomfortable about Streicher since
he was a man of stature who only once went off the rails. In any case
* Otto Dietrich, State Secretary in the Ministry of Propaganda and Reich Press
Chief of the Nazi Party.
278 30 MARCH 1945
the Führer emphasises that Streicher's* articles would certainly be

better than thoseof Dr Ley.
In this connection I refer to Dr Ley's articles in fairly sharp terms.
Above all I stress to the Führer that Dr Ley invariably maintains that
the Führer approves his articles and considers them the nonplus ultra
of journalistic persuasive power. The Führer says with a chuckle
that he has never read any of Dr Ley's articles, still less told him that
he thought them good. I describe to the Führer the content of the
last two articles, that about Dresden and that about the situation in
the West, the effect of which on pubÜc opinion was catastrophic.
The Führer commissions me to censor these articles severely in
future and to ensure that idiocies such as have recently appeared in
Ley's articles are no longer published. Otherwise, however, the
Führer's view is that Dr Ley is a real fanatic and that, within certain
limitations, he can be useful for tasks requiring fanaticism. This was
why he had entrusted him with formation of the "Adolf Hitler Free
Corps". In any case, as a result of all our various measures, we shall
slowly regain the West.
As far as morale is concerned, I am firmly convinced that, now
that the Führer has removed from me the impediment of the Reich
Press Officer, I can get going again. I shall very quickly purge the
Press Section of refractory and defeatist elements and can now carry
on propaganda against the West which will be in no way inferior to
that against the East. Anti- Anglo-American propaganda is now the
order of the day. Only if we can demonstrate to our people that
Anglo-American intentions towards them are no different from
those of the Bolshevists will they adopt a different attitude to the
enemy in the West. If we succeeded in stiffening the German people
against the bolshevists and instilling hatred into them, why should
we not succeed in doing so against the Anglo-Americans! Against
my advice we unfortunately committed the error of not with-
drawing from the Geneva Convention. Had this been done, so
many German soldiers would certainly not have handed themselves
over as prisoners of war to the Anglo-Americans during the present
battles in the West as has unhappily been the case. The Führer agrees
with me absolutely. He allowed himself to be talked round by
Keitel, Bormann and Himmler and neither did nor ordered what
was necessary and expedient. I am the only one to have been right
on this point, as the Führer frankly admits.
• Julius Streicherwas the most notorious of early Nazi propagandists. He pub-
lished a paper. Der Stürmer, which combined obscenity and antisemitism in
pathological form. He was Gauleiter of Franconia till 1940, when even Hitler was
obliged to drop him; but he continued to edit Der Stürmer to the end.
30 MARCH 1945 279
Otherwise the Führer is convinced that in eight to ten days' time

the holes in the West will have been plugged in some way. The
"Adolf Hitler Free Corps" can then slowly make its appearance. I
promise him to get partisan activity in the occupied western dis-
tricts to a peak in a very short time. Now that the Burgomaster of
Aachen has been liquidated it is now the turn of the Jewish Police
President in Köln and the Burgomaster of Rheydt. In any case I am
convinced that in the not too distant future we shall succeed in
laying low every German traitor among our enemies in the West.
As far as the Luftwaffe is concerned, the Führer has now given
SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Kammler* extraordinarily wide plenary
powers. In the matter of air armaments the Führer wishes to carry
through quite a small programme which, however, must be pur-
sued with the utmost energy. Whatever happens it must be com-
pleted. As a result of the powers given to Kammler Goring feels that
he is being by-passed but there is nothing to be done about that. The
Führer refuses any blame for failure to appoint Kammler earlier.
Kammler only came to his notice in the organisation for employ-
ment of our V-weapons. He is the right man to activate the
Luftwaffe at its reduced level. We must now act on the principle
followed by the Soviets during their great war crisis, in other words
be as basic as possible and make a virtue of necessity. Should the
Luftwaffe generals object to Kammler's orders, the Führer will
react with courts martial and shootings. In any case he is determined
to put some order into the Luftwaffe now. I think that he will
succeed, for the Luftwaffe generals, after all, are cowards just like
the army generals and, as soon as they reaUse that they have a master
over them, they will do what they are told.
The Führer promises me to make his speech to the German
people very soon. But, as I have said, he is first awaiting the success
of his measures in the West. I am somewhat sceptical whether he
will in fact speak in the foreseeable future. The Führer now has an
aversion to the microphone which is quite incomprehensible to me.
He knows too that it is not right to leave the people without a word
from him now; unfortunately, however, after his last speech the SD
told him that he had been criticised for having nothing new to say.
And in fact at this moment he can tell the people nothing new.
There is much in what the Führer says - that in a speech he must be
able to put forward something at least, and at the moment there is
nothing available. I reply, however, that the people are at least
expecting a watchword. In the present emergency one could give
* See above p. 249.

280 30 MARCH 1945
them a watchword. In short the result of the argument is that I

cannot persuade the Führer to start drafting his speech at once. But
he promises me to do it in the next few days. At least, however, as a
result of this talk I have got rid of Dr Dietrich, which is a con-
siderable reUef for my work. The Führer was most of all displeased
that Dr Dietrich should have amended the announcement I had
drafted concerning the shooting of the Burgomaster of Aachen. I
had referred to a national tribunal which had condemned the Bur-
gomaster to death; on his own initiative Dr Dietrich deleted this
passage, observing that there was no such national tribunal. Osancta
simplicitasl
The Führer is happy that I am going to try to find some oppor-
tunity for Streicher to work. He has Streicher very much at heart
and Streicher deserves to be brought somewhat more into the
Umelight at the present time. In any case he is more loyal than many
people working in influential positions in the Party and State today.
The situation in the East, of course, causes the Führer great
anxiety. His view is that it has been largely messed up by Guderian.
Guderian has not a firm solid temperament. He loses his nerve. He
showed this when commanding troops both in the West and the
East. During the critical winter of 1941/42 in the East he simply
began to withdraw on his own initiative and so started the entire
front giving way. Only when Guderian withdrew did Küchler and
Hoepner do the same. Consequently the great crisis in the East in
the winter of 1941/42 is a black mark against Guderian. At that time
the army generals totally lost their nerve. They were facing a crisis
for the first time, whereas previously they had only been winning
victories; now they were equally determined to retreat to the Reich
frontier. The Führer recounts to me yet again the dramatic con-
versation he had at that time with Küchler. Küchler proposed to
him that the troops be withdrawn, leaving behind all their heavy
equipment, if necessary as far as the Reich frontier. Had that been
done, the war would probably have ended in the winter 1941/42.
A real tragedy is now being staged in Hungary. As I emphasised
last time, Sepp Dietrich only put a portion of his troops into action
in Hungary and told the Führer a direct lie about his manpower. He
wanted to leave reserves behind in the Reich for his next operation
on the Oder front. As a result he was short of replacements in
Hungary. The Führer is most hurt by Sepp Dietrich's behaviour
He has also reproached Himmler severely on the subject. The result
is, as I have said, that Himmler has taken away their armbands from
the SS formations in Hungary. But that does not do much good.

The harm done cannot be made good that way.
30 MARCH 1945 281
The Führer now takes the view that Himmler has no operational
capability. He is a punctilious person but no commander. He totally
lacks the divine spark. This he showed during the operations in
Pomerania of which he made a complete mess owing to his
narrow-minded operational thinking. In general the Führer is of the
opinion that no high-class commander has emerged from the SS.
Neither Sepp Dietrich nor Hausser have great operational talent.
Huber and Dietl were the only real stayers among the generals but
unfortunately the Führer has been deprived of them both through
aircraft accidents. Who is then left? Schörner who has great talent
and is outstanding. He prepares his operations with care and is
always driving the enemy back with meagre resources. He is a devil
of a fellow and can always be relied on. Above all he tells the Führer
the truth. The fact that in the case of Hungary Sepp Dietrich did not
do so has greatly embittered the Führer. He even talks of guilt
before history that must be laid at Dietrich's door. In any case we
must now reckon that we may lose the Hungarian oilfield. It has not
got to that yet but it may come. Taking into account the debacle in
Pomerania the SS has a good deal to account for recently.
Himmler's standing with the Führer has accordingly sunk notice-
ably. On the other hand, of course, it must be recognised that at the
moment we are pursued by a chain of misfortune. These mis-
fortunes are not due solely to the inadequacy of the Führer's associ-
ates but also to the inadequacy of the resources available to us.
As the Führer emphasises to me, he would very much Uke to
appoint better men to his staff if he could find them. But, as I must
admit, they are just not available. For instance he says to me that he
would, of course, gladly have installed me as Head of Propaganda in
the Party in 1922 if he had known me; at that time, however, he had
no notion that I existed. It is therefore fruitless to ask why I was not
in charge of the Party's propaganda in 1922. Only by association
with people can one make their acquaintance. Undoubtedly there
are a number of men of operational talent within the Wehrmacht,
but it is also very hard to find them.
It is truly saddening to me to see the Führer in such a bad physical
state. He tells me that he is hardly sleeping at all, is continually

plunged in his work and that he is being totally worn down in the
long run by continually having to prop up his feeble characterless
staff I can imagine that this must be a worrying laborious process. I
am really sorry for the Führer when I see him in his present physical
and mental state. Nevertheless I cannot abandon my demand that he
speak to the people as soon as possible. He must call off one or two
conferences for a day or two. The most important thing is that he
282 30 MARCH I945
should rcconsolidate the people; I can do the rest. Now that I am

free of Dr Dietrich I beUeve that I shall succeed in taking a grip of the
press again in a very short time. The first essential, however, is that
the Führer should give press and people some watchword.
The Führer was extraordinarily nice and forthcoming to me
during this conversation. One can see that he is pleased sometimes
to talk to someone who does not give way at every crisis.
Dr Naumann's pleasure at the removal of Dr Dietrich is inde-
scribable. Dr Dietrich was a foreign body in our Ministry. The
Ministry will now once more be under centrahsed leadership. I
commission Dr Naumann to create the necessary conditions.
I have had to toil away at home throughout Good Friday. I do not
even notice that it is a holiday. The general tone of today's OKW

report is terrible. In view of these jeremiads one can sec why the
German people are slowly losing courage.
On the ground there has been little change in the West this
evening. Leading enemy
troops have advanced to the Brilon—
Paderborn area and will probably move on the Weser. Otherwise,
however, the enemy is occupied in bringing up reinforcements.
Our counter-measures should slowly begin to take effect during the
course of the evening. At the moment, however, one cannot expect
much from them. As far as the East is concerned, pressure on the
German frontier in Hungary has become heavier. The enemy has
crossed the frontier at one point and captured two Austrian villages.
We are still holding on south of Lake Balaton in an effort to retain
the oilfield. Soviet attacks in Upper Silesia were again extra-
ordinarily heavy. The enemy made some penetrations but all were
dealt with. The situation in Glogau has become somewhat critical
owing to heavy enemy air activity. One thousand men under von
Reinefarth from the garrison of Küstrin have fought their way back
to our hues. The situation in the Gotenhafen and Danzig areas is
extraordinarily critical. I fear that the end will come soon here.
I work late into the night creating the conditions for a reform of
our press section. I hear from Reichsleiter Bormann that the Führer
had a three-minute interview with Dr Dietrich at which Dietrich
himself and Sünder mann* were sent packing in short order. So at
last the path for my work is free. I shall take full advantage of the
opportunity and cvente fails accomplis in the press which it will be
impossible to countermand later.
* Dietrich's deputy.
(pp- 1-38)
Military Situation.
The main fighting on the Eastern Front was in Hungary. Between
the Drau and the western end of Lake Balaton the enemy attacked
frontally towards Nagy Kanizsa and made a deep penetration bring-
ing him to within 20 km of the oilfield. Simultaneously the Soviets
advanced south and south-west from Zalaegerszeg with the inten-
tion of encircling the oilfield. The enemy swung north-west from
Steinamanger and Guns, reached the German frontier west of
Steinamanger and crossed it north-west of Guns. Leading enemy
tanks reached Kirchschlag. At the same time the enemy advanced
farther along the Raab-Odenburg-Wiener Neustadt railway; here
he is some 20 km east of Odenburg. Advancing through Raab,
which fell into enemy hands, the Soviets gained some 10 km of
ground towards Bratislava. The enemy succeeded in breaking into
our rearguard position on the Neutra at several points and advanc-
ing as far as the Waag where he formed bridgeheads on the west
bank.
A further centre of fighting is the Mährisch-Ostrau area where
the enemy again launched a strong attack with tank support and
made local penetrations between Freistadt, Ratibor and Katscher.
Ratibor and Katscher fell into enemy hands. The enemy was con-
tained immediately south of these two towns.
On the adjoining front as far as Neisse the enemy made violent
attacks but all were driven off Some improvements to our
positions were made in the Breslau area. In Glogau the enemy
penetrated to the city centre after severe fighting. No particular
operations all along the Oder front. Equally no special develop-
ments reported from the Danzig and Königsberg areas. Heavy
Soviet attacks continued in Courland without appreciable change in
the situation.
On the Lower Rhine, in the British-Canadian sector of the
284 31 MARCH 1945
Western Front, our troops arc involved in severe fighting with

the advancing enemy. The British penetrated into Emmerich from
north and east and thence attacked towards the Dutch frontier. No
appreciable change in the situation in the Bocholt area. The battle
group advancing from Borken penetrated farther north into the
Stadtlohn area. Another battle group captured Coesfeld. Counter-
attacks are in progress to confme the penetration area between
Coesfeld and Dülmen. From Dülmen the enemy advanced some 5
km farther towards Münster; he is now some 25 km south-west of
Münster. At Lüdinghausen between Münster and Recklinghausen
the British advanced across the Dortmund-Ems Canal. The enemy
attacked towards Buer-Recklinghausen from the Dorsten-
Gladbeck area but was repulsed; some localities were recaptured by
counter-attack. Our line now runs along the northern edge of the
Ruhr, then south along the Rhine to Beuel and then turns along the
Sieg to Siegen.
In the American break-through area, where they have advanced
from the Westerwald to the region Wetzlar-Giessen-Marburg, two
operations are now developing. One enemy thrust is directed
northwards in order to join up with the British-Canadian forces
somewhere in the area between Hamm and Paderborn; a second
group is swinging east and advancing towards Hersfeld and Fulda.
Some of the enemy forces moving north have swung west at
Brilon; the rest are advancing farther north and north-east. Between
Brilon and Kassel the enemy is roughly in the area Arolson-Bad
Wildungen. According to hitherto unconfirmed reports the enemy
advancing east from the Marburg area has reached Hersfeld. Strong
enemy troop concentrations have been detected on the autobahn at
Alsfeld. The enemy advancing towards Fulda through Lauterbach
is now just west of Fulda.
No major change in the Hanau area. Stiffer German resistance is

reported here. At present the enemy is in the Gelnhausen area. At
Aschaffenburg too the enemy was unable to make progress.
Schweinheim v/as recaptured by counter-attack. A defence line has
been formed traversing the eastern spurs of the Odenwald; it runs
from Klingenberg am Main through Miltenberg, Amorbach and
Oberbach to Neckarsteinach. The enemy succeeded in breaking
through this Une at Amorbach and reaching Walldürn and Buchen.
Attacking from north to south he penetrated into Heidelberg. He
crossed the Neckar betv/een Heidelberg and Mannheim and pene-
trated into Schwetzingen.
No special reports from the ItaHan front.
Over Reich territory 1300 American four-engined bombers
31 MARCH 1945 285
attacked port and transport installations in Hamburg, Bremen and

Wilhelmshaven. Some 500 American four-engined bombers from
Italy raided Vienna, Wiener Neustadt, Klagenfurt and Graz. Our
"Sturmvögel" shot down eight enemy aircraft. A harassing raid on
Berlin after dark was made by 60 Mosquitos. Four "Sturmvögel"
shot down four Mosquitos without loss. There was sustained
long-range night fighter activity over the western half of the Reich
throughout the night.
London is continuing its purposeful scare propaganda aimed at the

German people. Its consistent line is that the Reich has to all intents
and purposes ceased to exist, that there is no longer any question of
internal organisation in Germany and that the government has lost
all authority. These tactics are too transparent to be successful in the
long run. Both the British and Americans are now doing their
utmost to finish matters in some way by 25 April when the San
Francisco Conference is due to begin; both London and Washing-
ton are clear that the great political crisis problems will first be
broached in San Francisco and they have no wish to have us rubbing
our hands in the background.
In fact developments in the West are calculated to reinforce the
enemy's hope that he will soon be able to overwhelm us militarily.
Gauleiter Wagner* from Karlsruhe gives me a full report on the
situation in his Gau. He too complains bitterly that the morale both
of the population and of the troops has sunk extraordinarily low.
People no longer shrink from sharp criticism of the Führer. The
Luftwaffe is really to blame for the ruin of Germany but the Führer
is accused of failure to make personnel changes there in good time.
It is true, Wagner says, that the enemy is afraid of severe casualties
but, as soon as he meets resistance, he calls in his air force which then
simply turns the area of resistance into a desert. In contrast to the
Soviets the Anglo-Americans are not feared by the people - as we
have long known; on the contrary, large sections of the people are
glad to see them come so that they may be protected from the
Soviets. The poUtical attitude of people west of the Rhine was in fact
very bad. They had been demoralised by the continuous enemy
air-raids and are now throwing themselves into the arms of the
Anglo-Americans, in some cases enthusiastically, in others at least
* Gauleiter of Baden-Alsace.
286 31 MARCH 1945
without genuine resistance. In some cases - at least at some points —

the people have even taken active steps against troops willing to
resist which naturally has had an extraordinarily depressing effect
on them. In reahty there is today no question of any resistance
worth mentioning west of the Rhine. Here and there small isolated
groups are holding out but these are, of course, of no significance
for the future progress of military operations.
On behalf of Commander-in-Chief West Müller also sends me a
report on the morale of the civil population which is extraordinarily
alarming. Nevertheless I think that Müller has allowed himself to be
over-influenced by the General Staff officers in C-in-C West's
headquarters. In fact he lays all the blame for the disaster on the civil
population, which is General Staff tactics; they and the army are
trying to exonerate themselves for events in the West. Müller's
report also emphasises that people are receiving the Anglo-
Americans with white flags and that in some towns and villages
they have even been given a frenzied welcome. The Party evacuated
these towns and villages prematurely and the population has now
turned to looting. They have been left defenceless against the tank
terror. In the Main district there has even been talk of the Main
French coming to displace the Germans. In short it is obvious from
this report that C-in-C West's staff is doing its utmost to shuffle the
blame onto the population and to whitewash the army and above all
the generals. In answer to Müller's report I make a sharp retort
which he is to submit to General Kesselring. In this answer I stress
that the people's morale has always been first-class so long as the
enemy did not appear. The people have endured all the air-raids
with great bravery. No one can be surprised, however, at the people
losing their courage when all they see are miserable collections of
soldiery making their way to the rear, throwing away their
weapons and offering no resistance. How httle the troops are pre-
pared to fight is clear from the fact that, since the start of his
offensive, Patton alone has taken 140,000 prisoners, a fearful
indictment of those who, against my advice, prevented us with-
drawing from the Geneva Convention. Patton talks of 90,000
killed. This figure is not right; it is greatly exaggerated. The number
of prisoners, however, may be correct. Patton is also being entirely
inaccurate when he talks of the greatest military achievement in
history. How can anyone use the words "military achievement" in
view of the enemy's vast material superiority and after such fright-
ful air bombardments which have turned the battlefield into a desert
and towns and villages into heaps of ruins.
I am nevertheless of the opinion that slowly the partisan war will
31 MARCH 1945 - 287
Start in West Germany. There are already a number of signs of it.

Even the British are very worried that they will now be threatened
in their rear areas by our freedom fighters. Moreover they are now
totally counting on an imminent German collapse. They have even
decided to proclaim a fixed date for victory whether we are still
resisting or not. They want simply to declare the war at an end by
Order of the Day. But things arc not as simple as that and the British
will be deceiving themselves if they think that such an Order of the
Day will make the slightest impression on us. This project illus-
trates, however, in how great a hurry the Anglo-Americans are to
bring the war in Europe to an end. Reports that victory celebrations
are already being prepared in London are naturally exclusively
intended to influence our mentality.
In passing it is worth noting that London is continually emphasis-
ing that only harsh peace terms are under consideration for Ger-
many.
Here and there fears arc expressed in London that our withdrawal
in the West is part of a high-level plan to combine our resources in
troops in the West with those in the East in order to make common
cause with bolshevists against the Anglo-Americans. This could
produce a real possibility of conflict especially when one considers
that the ingredients of political crisis within the enemy coalition are
beginning to assume extraordinarily menacing proportions. This
morning's Manchester Guardian firmly states that there is not the
smallest measure of agreement about the San Francisco Conference.
Under pressure of public opinion Stettinius has had to admit that a
secret agreement was concluded in Yalta under which Stalin was
initially granted three votes for the Soviet Union. This secret
agreement is very sharply criticised in the US press. At midday
comes the sensational news that the San Francisco Conference is
possibly to be postponed. Stalin clearly has no wish to enter into
prolonged debate with the Anglo-Americans now. He gives as his
reason that Molotov cannot be sent to San Francisco since he must
participate in Soviet budgetary discussions at this time — a some-
what cynical statement which will undoubtedly have a com-
mensurate effect in London and Washington. London is attempting
to explain away the dilemma that has arisen by maintaining that
German capitulation is imminent and that therefore a conference
cannot take place in San Francisco at this time. In fact, of course, the
political crises in the enemy camp are the reason for the probable
postponement of the San Francisco Conference. It is suspected that
Stahn intends to demand 16 votes at San Francisco which of course
would entirely upset all Anglo-American calculations. In addition
288 3' MARCH 1945
WC have received an offiaal report from Moscow to the effect that

the Kremhn is demanding that the LubUn Committee be invited to
San Francisco as the official Pohsh government even if it has not
been reconstituted. It cannot be reconstituted at all since the Soviets
are dragging out the negotiations in Moscow This declaration by
the Kremlin has given Anglo-American public opinion a real shock.
It is couched in harsh terms, ending with the sentence that the
Kremlin expects a rapid solution of this problem. In other words

Stalin thinks the moment has come to start using sharper language
to the Anglo-Americans and to bring the crisis in the enemy
coalition to a head.
Bohle tells me of the fiasco of the Hesse mission to Stockholm.
Hesse was definitely a Ribbcntrop man and British political circles
had not the smallest confidence in him. The British had no wish to
negotiate with Germans at all and definitely not with Ribbentrop.
As a result the despatch of Hesse to Stockholm was undoubtedly a
diplomaticyäwx pas.
In the East the course of events in Hungary and on the Austro-
Hungarian frontier gives rise to the greatest anxiety at the moment.
Cerff, who has just returned from the Hungarian front, gives me an
account of events there. He says that the offensive bogged down
because the weather was unbeUevably bad. The offensive neces-
sarily took place in very marshy ground so that our tanks simply
could not move. Sepp Dietrich did his utmost to keep the offensive
going but he is no army commander. He is capable of commanding
no more than a division. In any case our casualties were extra-
ordinarily high and Sixth Army can hardly be scheduled for future
operations. This a fearful thing for Sepp Dietrich of course. One can
imagine how unhappy he is over this development.
In the air we once more have to bemoan heavy raids on Graz,
Hamburg, Bremen and Wilhelmshaven. The enemy bomber
squadrons are now in the air uninterruptedly and they are inflicting
the most serious damage on us. Obsolete German aircraft are now
to be used as ram fighters against these bomber squadrons. These
ram fighters are now to make suicide attacks on the enemy bom-
bers, 90 % casualties being reckoned with. The ram
fighters should
be in action in eight to ten days' time. Extraordinary success is
expected from them. Of our fighter pilots 50-90 % have vol-
unteered, proof that morale among our fighter pilots is extra-
ordinarily high, even though Goring, for transparent reasons,
invariably states the contrary.
Gerhart Hauptmann has made available to us an extraordinarily
[one word illegible] statement about the Anglo-American [terror]
31 MARCH 1945 289
raid on Dresden. He was himself present during the raid and tells of
it language worthy of the Reich's leading poet.
in
I am now busy organising the Werwolf radio station. Slesina is to
be placed in charge of it; he has considerable experience in this field

from the Saar struggle. Prützmann* has not got very far with his
preparations for the Werwolf organisation. It seems to me that he is
proceeding far too hesitantly over this work. He complains that
people in the West German enemy-occupied districts are at present
apathetic and arc anti-Party. But this is no reason for the work to
proceed so slowly. One must now go into it with the utmost
energy. I think that a powerful impulse will be given to it by the
propaganda to be distributed over the new Werwolf station.
The reports from the Reich Propaganda Offices and the letters I
receive are naturally couched in most despairing terms. Their gen-
eral trend is that people are now convinced that the war is lost. As a
result of losing so much territory there is no basis for arms pro-
duction so that there is no longer any chance for us. Many people are
simply asking themselves what is the best and most honourable
way to escape from this frightful existence. Occasionally radical
measures are demanded such as withdrawal from the Geneva Con-
vention for instance — a matter continually being stressed; but
people do not expect even that to produce very much. In general the
better people are in many cases concerned with the question how to
die decently.
A report from Rodde, head of the Reich Propaganda Office in
Hamburg, deaHng with criticism of the Luftwaffe is thoroughly
typical of the present attitude of the German people towards the
Luftwaffe and Goring. In particular both in this report and in very
many letters the question is raised why draconian sentences were
pronounced and executed for the failure to demolish the Rhine
bridge at Remagen whereas those responsible for the air war catas-
trophe have not been called to account in a similar manner. People
are demanding a court martial and death sentence on Goring, for
instance. The letter- writers make no bones about their views and do
not even shrink from putting their names and full addresses at the
bottom of their letters.
As far as developments in the West are concerned, the general
pubHc is convinced that something is amiss here. It is suspected that
treachery plays some part. The Führer is also of the opinion that the
course of events in the Trier area, which in effect led to the collapse
of the Western Front, cannot be explained in any other way.
* SS Obergruppenführer Prützmann was put in charge of the HVrw'(>//"organisation
by Himmler. For Slesina sec above pp. 232-3.
29© 31 MARCH 1945
The people have reacted with extraordinary repugnance to the

instances of bad example set by the Party. The Party's reputation
has suffered greatly as a result. On the other hand the people places
such hope as it still has solely on the Führer. In general people are
conscientiously doing their duty; admittedly there is much criticism
of State and Party leadership but developments in the West are
thought terrible; some hope is still placed on our resistance in the
East; otherwise people are still prepared to do everything asked of
them by their leaders.
Food supply is slowly beginning to become extraordinarily
difficult. With the recent reductions our rations are now so low that
they barely reach the minimum subsistence level. As can be
imagined, with all these severe blows descending on the people, a
sort of widespread fatalism is emerging. Men look upon their
approaching fate as an inexorable natural phenomenon.
The defence stock-taking for Berlin this week has turned out to
be fairly well on the credit side. Admittedly considerable detach-
ments of troops have been taken away but the stocks of weapons are
that much better. Above all the number of heavy weapons has risen
considerably. The level of coal stocks constitutes a very serious
threat. We are getting practically no coal from the Ruhr now. There
are no other sources of supply for us and so we must make radical
reductions in our coal consumption. In particular the traffic must be
cut down. In future public transport should only be used by people
employed on war work.
I am now busy with a fundamental reform of the radio. It must
become more and be better adapted to the present war
flexible
situation. In particular the news service is to be radicalised. The
same applies to news in the press. I am again seizing the opportunity
to mount a sharp attack on the bourgeois newspapers in Berlin, in
particular the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung; they talk as if we were at
a beer-drinking party.
Dr Dietrich has now told his staff that he is to go on leave for a
few weeks on orders from the Führer. I am
not prepared to be
satisfied with this. I shall have a new statute drawn up for guidance
to the press and there will be no place in it for the Reich Press
Officer.
During the course of the day the situation in the West has become
more dramatic. The Führer has been in military conferences for
over four hours. The Führer is extremely vexed that the measures
he ordered have still brought no relief He has been making long
personal telephone calls to individual Army Commanders in the
West, imploring them to do their utmost to put up resistance
31 MARCH 1945 291
somewhere and pointing out to them what is at stake in major

operations.
The deterioration reported is very considerable. The enemy has
almost reached Rheine, almost reached Ahlen and to the south-west
is between Münster and Hamm. So our entire Rhine-
land-Westphalian industrial zone is most seriously threatened, in
factis already partially lost. South of Lippstadt the enemy is swing-
ing towards Soest and in addition he is only 4 km from Kassel. A

planned advance into Thuringia is now indicated. He is advancing
towards Meiningen and meeting httle resistance there either. Here
and there minor successes by our reserve formations are reported
but they make httle impact. Larger-scale counter-operations are to
be launched during the coming night but one must wait to see
whether they lead to any alleviation.
During the course of discussion on the situation in the West the
Führer again had a dramatic clash with Goring. Goring has once
more been guilty of a series of irregularities and gradually this
becomes infuriating. I cannot understand how the Führer has
allowed this to go on for so long.
The single-combat victories scored by our Me 262s are highly
satisfactory, thank God. Admittedly we can at present only put
small numbers of these new fighters into action; where they have
been in operation, however, they have had considerable success in
shooting down enemy aircraft.
The enemy has made further progress in Hungary, even crossing
the Reich frontier. The Lower Danube region is gradually becom-
ing seriously threatened. Otherwise the entire Eastern Front was
generally quiet.
The withdrawal of our troops from Küstrin did not take place as
the Führer intended. On the Führer's orders Gruppenführer
Reinefarth, who was commanding there, has been arrested by
Himmler. It is said that he retreated without orders.
Sündermann visited Dr Naumann this afternoon in order to ask a
favour himself. He wants to continue to give directions to the press
on my behalf as long as Dr Dietrich is on leave. I have no wish to
have him on my staff I must now have high-grade men of character
who will follow my instructions precisely and above all will remain
stable in a crisis. In no sense is this the case with Sündermann. In any
case I intend now to radicaUse our entire propaganda and news
policy. At the present stage of the war the sternest language is the
best.
SUNDAY I APRIL 1945
(pp. 1-20, pp. 21-45 (?) missing)

Military Situation.
On the Eastern Front the Soviets continued to attack in strength
from Hungary and Slovakia. We occupied a defensive position
between the western end of Lake Balaton and the Drau southwards
and the German frontier westwards protecting the Nagy Kanizsa
oilfield; the Bolshevists exerted heavy pressure but without result.
The enemy reached the German frontier south-west of
Steinamanger. From the break-through area between Guns and
Odenburg the Bolshevists pressed forward to points 10—20 km
south and south-west of Wiener Neustadt. Here they were held by
an army cadet school after severe fighting. Between Odenburg and
the Neusiedlersee [Lake Fertöto] the enemy advanced along the
western shore of the lake as far as Rust. Along the Slovakian—Hun-
garian frontier he penetrated farther across the Neutra and Waag
towards Bratislava. In the fighting around Mährisch-Ostrau repeated
heavy Soviet attacks were beaten off with a loss to the enemy of 72
tanks; we also improved our positions by counter-attack. Attacks on
Breslau from the west failed. Soviet troop concentrations were
observed in the Bunzlau area. The enemy continued to attack in
Courland but there was no change in the situation.
The situation on the Lower Rhine has become more acute in that
the enemy advancing north and north-westwards has greater free-
dom of movement and was able to reach Dingden and an area some
20 km south of Rheine. Leading enemy troops reached the
Hamm-Münster railway. The Americans could only make an
insignificant advance in the area south of Paderborn. In some cases
they were driven back by counter-attack. Farther south enemy
forces reached an area 4 km west of Kassel. Moving through
Hersfeld the enemy reached the Werra in the region of Vacha.
Between Fulda and Hersfeld the enemy was driven back by
counter-attack at Schlitz. From the Gelnhausen area the enemy
I APRIL 1945 293
advanced to the Hanau-Fulda railway in the region of Bad Orb.

Leading enemy tanks advanced from the Wertheim area and the
Odenwald to the neighbourhood of Würzburg and to the Tauber at
Tauberbischofsheim. Attacking south-westwards they reached the
Jagst valley and Mosbach. In the Neckar sector the enemy occupied
Neckargemünd. From the Heidelberg area the enemy is attempting
to roll up the front on the Upper Rhine in the direction of Karlsruhe.
His leading troops reached the area of Wiesloch. Attempts to cross
the river at Speyer were defeated. The enemy succeeded in forming
a small bridgehead on the right bank of the Rhine at Germersheim.
No special reports from the Italian front.
Strong American air formations raided Brandenburg,
Brunswick, Halle and towns in Thuringia. A British formation
raided Hamburg. Some 500 American bombers from Italy raided
Linz and Villach. A smaller twin-engined formation dropped
bombs in the Innsbruck area. So far 42 enemy aircraft, mostly
four-engined bombers, are reported shot down by Me 262s. Some
80 four-engined bombers raided Graz during the night.
Enemy estimates of German fighting morale differ. In some cases

they refer to our men putting up fanatical resistance - this seems to
be primarily the case in the Lower Rhine area — in others, however,
they say that there is no longer any trace of resistance. As regards
both military and moral resistance the behaviour of certain towns
and cities has been excellent. Among these AschafTenburg and
Heidelberg receive special mention from the enemy. In Heidelberg
the people are showing marked hostility to the Americans.
The situation in the West has deteriorated extraordinarily and at
the moment must be regarded The enemy now
as really wretched.
has almost complete freedom of movement in the Lower Rhine area
so that further surprises giving rise to great alarm are to be anti-
cipated here. It is possible that by this evening the Ruhr will have
been totally cut off from both sides.
About midday Kesselring telephones me and tells me that we
shall probably have to wait three or four days before our large-scale
counter-measures begin to get under way. Until then there can be
no major shift of developments in our favour. Kesselring is
nevertheless in good heart. He is assured and full of character in his
estimate of the situation and there is not a trace of defeatism with
him. He tells me also that the attitude of the civil population has
somewhat improved under the influence of our propaganda. Müller
294 I APRIL 1945
isdoing an excellent job. He has given Müller the widest powers so

that he can operate with all the available propaganda resources in the
western zone. Kesselring will now call me daily at midday to give
me a brief situation report. I have the impression that he is fully in
control of his staff and will not have dust thrown in his eyes. On
Miiller's suggestion he has had handbills distributed both to the
troops and the civil population. On these handbills the civilians
implore the soldiers to stand firm. These handbills are distributed to
the soldiers by young people. In addition he has issued a call to the
fighting troops explaining in a few sentences what is now at stake
and why they must stand firm in all circumstances. I give Kesselring
an expose on the present political situation which is extraordinarily
interesting to him. All our leading soldiers are now convinced that
recourse must be had to political means of putting a stop to the
well-nigh desperate development of the military situation. But that
is easier said than done, primarily because on our side we have no
high-class diplomatic representative available. Ribbentrop cannot

be seriously considered in this category.
Our Werwolf activity has now produced a considerable scare in
the enemy camp. They are now definitely afraid of a partisan-
infested Germany which - so they say - could keep Europe in
turmoil for years. Yet no move is being made towards aban-
donment of the downright crazy plans for the destruction of Ger-
many. The German people arc being told that they face a period of
starvation lasting for years. The Americans, of all people, want to
play the pedagogue, close German schools and take over education
of the German people themselves. In addition the Morgenthau Plan
will be pursued, under which Germany is to be turned into a potato
field, German youth of military age is to be compulsorily deported
abroad as slave labour and reparations are to be paid — in short
anyone can see that it would be preferable to be slaughtered. We live
in such crazy times that human reason counts for nothing. Reason
has no say any more. The cynical threats made against us by the
enemy beggar all description. They are neither fair nor do they
accord with common sense. But what do men like Roosevelt and
Churchill mind about that! They feel themselves at the height of
their military triumph and think they need no longer take account
of considerations of human reason.
However they are somewhat sobered by the behaviour of the
Kremlin. The British and Americans have refused to recognise the
Lublin Committee as the regular Polish government or allow it to
participate in the San Francisco Conference. They give as their main
reason the fact that Stalin has not kept his promise made at Yalta to
I APRIL 1945 295
reconstitute the Lublin Committee and also has allowed neither

British and American correspondents nor UNRRA entry into
Poland. Stalin will undoubtedly reply to that with some wily
counter-move. On the previous day he had already made an appro-
priate declaration in TASS in such violent language that it could not
be overlooked in Britain and America. The USA are now com-
pletely aware of the hopelessness of the conference planned for San
Francisco and are advocating an adjournment. They know full well
that this conference will lead to great political hullabaloo, par-
ticularly since the three votes for the Soviet Union conceded to
Stalin at Yalta have called forth a storm of protest in the American
press. Domestically, therefore, Roosevelt is in a fairly embarrassing
political situation. It not the three votes conceded to the Soviets
is
that are so much taken amiss as the secrecy with which this tactical
manoeuvre was conducted. The American papers now refer quite
frankly to a conflict with Stalin hanging like a dark shadow over the
San Francisco Conference. Stalin has not the smallest intention of
taking a hand in the Pacific war. As a result, it is said, and taking into
account the potentialities for conflict in Europe, the third world war
has moved appreciably closer.
This debate is taken far more seriously in the United States than
in Britain. In Britain they are at present occupied in victory celeb-
rations. In any case it is much in Churchill's interest to divert the
attention of the British pubHc from the extraordinarily critical
potential poUtical crisis and concentrate it on military develop-
ments. In any case the political crisis has developed so far that it
now provides adequate grounds for us to stand firm and make not
the smallest concession to enemy enticements to cowardice and
surrender.
The Soviets on their side are now trying to creztefaits accomplis by
means of military victories. They are advancing in Hungary while
the Anglo-Americans are advancing in the West. They have crossed
the Austrian frontier on a considerable scale and are novv on the
move towards Graz. StaUn is said to have given the Red Army
the aim of capturing Vienna, Prague and even BerUn by 25 ApriL
For the next few weeks, therefore, we can be clear on one thing:
there is no question at present of any diminution of the mihtary
crisis.
As far as Prague is concerned, it is an objective both of the

Anglo-Americans and of the Soviets. The Soviets, however, have
already prepared the ground politically. Benes was in Moscow in
the last few days. He is already forming his new government and is
all set to move to Bohemia and Moravia. He has already left
.
296 I APRIL 194s
Moscow. This senile political globe-trotter now thinks that

achievement of his infernal purposes is imminent.
This is the saddest Easter Day I have ever had in my life. From all
corners of the Reich news causing fresh anxiety floods in through-
out the day.
A prolonged series of air raids has wrought fearful devastation in
the Reich during the last 24 hours. This time it was the turn
especially of the city of Brandenburg.
I have a serious showdown with Lieutenant-Colonel Balzcr who
has recently evinced a somewhat defeatist attitude and caused me

considerable vexation. I call him to order and think that, at least for
the immediate future, I shall not have to complain about him any
more.
By cutting the corners we have at last succeeded in getting the
Werwolf station on the air for the first time on the first evening
of the Easter holiday. The station transmits on the old
Deutschlandsender wavelength and at considerable strength. The
first programme was submitted to me in detail and I myself wrote
an extraordinarily revolutionary exhortation in which I took not
the smallest account of regular methods of conducting war or of
wartime foreign poHcy. The programme will be carried by the
Werwolf station this evening and then partially taken up by the
regular Reich stations. The programme makes an excellent
impression. It is inspired by a revolutionary spirit and will un-
doubtedly attract a large audience. I shall put through Werwolf
programmes every evening and I hope that they will cement activ-
ists throughout the Reich into a firm community. It is really refresh-
ing for once to be able to talk as one used to do during our struggle
period. In the battle for the German people's freedom I intend to
allot to the Werwolf station and the newspaper Werwolf the same
role as I did to the newspaper Der Angriff during our struggle for
power. The Werwolf is designedly addressed to the unflinching
pertinacious political minority which has always formed the steel
tip of the popular leaden lance. The language it uses is well adapted
to the present time and will also correspondingly . .
[at this point probably 25 pages of the entry for i April 1945 are
missing]
.
MONDAY 2 APRIL 1945
(pp.21-33, pp. 1-20 missing)

put some sense into
... at last . .
The lengths to which the enemy is determined to go may be seen

from the fact that he is now toying with the idea of setting up a
provisional German government in the areas he occupies. If this
took placewe should be in considerable difficulties since the loss of
confidence among the civil population is very great at the moment
and, from the enemy's point of view, this seems to me to be the
moment to produce an opposition regime which would give us a lot
of trouble.
I know that the Werwolf movement is not being very active at the
moment. Nevertheless I am carrying on propaganda for it energet-
ically. I want gradually to get the organisation of the Werwolf
movement into my own hands. Not only do I think myself suited to
do it but I believe that the Werwolf must be led with spirit and
enthusiasm. It must not become a mere organisation hke the SD.
There is no longer much profit in organisation now. Things have
gone far too far for that.
Fresh hate programmes are being announced by the enemy. It is
proposed, for instance, to cut down all German forests and trans-
port the wood to England.
The cynicism of the Americans too is unparalleled. They have
held a thanksgiving service in the ruins of Köln cathedral ending
with the hymn "God bless America" sung by the congregation.
What humihations have we still to suffer before the moment of
deliverance comes!
On their side, however, the Americans have their worries. Both
the prospects of the San Francisco Conference and even its date are
now extraordinarily obscure. Senator Vandenberg, who has been
nominated by Roosevelt as one of the delegates to this conference,
has criticised Moscow's pretensions most severely. He had an inter-
view with Roosevelt during which Roosevelt eventually divulged
298 2 APRIL 1945
some of the secret Yalta agreements. These secret agreements have

aroused extreme hostüity among the American pubUc. To coun-
teract the poor prospects of the San Francisco Conference it is
proposed that it be preceded by a meeting of the Big Five, at which
Foreign Ministers of the enemy powers would be present. But
Stalin is by no means in agreement with this proposal. Things have
now gone so far that even the responsible Times refers to an open
crisis. It accuses Stahn of refusing to join the Western security
organisation, of being opposed to a new League of Nations, of
wanting only bilateral treaties and so of bringing the third world
war within sight. Accordingly, as The Times says, extraordinary
difficulties arise which can hardly be overcome.
Moscow blandly declares that the three votes which the Soviet
Union has demanded for the San Francisco Conference were con-
ceded both by Roosevelt and Churchill at the Yalta Conference. In
reality, therefore, the proceedings 4t the Yalta Conference were
very different from what we were led to believe by the com-
munique. US public opinion is extraordinarily disillusioned over it,
is attacking the Kremhn's poHcy most violently and holds Stalin
responsible for the entire dilemma.
I am convinced that this potential poUtical crisis could quickly be
made to flare up if it was not continually being pushed into the

background by the enemy's military victories. But how is it to be
done when Roosevelt can announce some new victory daily? The
Americans have now landed on the island of Okinawa, for instance.
They burnt their fingers in doing so but what do they mind about
that. Their potential is so adequate that they can afford such blood-
lettings for as long as they like.
Easter Monday is filled with work from morning to night.
Except when one looks out of the window at the empty streets one
does not realise that this is the Easter holiday.
During the last 24 hours, thank God, we have suffered no major
damage from the air war. The Anglo-Americans have not been able
to take off from England owing to unfavourable weather. Whatever
the reason, the main thing is that we have had a certain amount of
peace during the last 24 hours.
This evening it is reported that the enemy has gone over to the
attack in the Arnhem-Nijmegen area as well. He is exerting extra-
ordinarily heavy pressure here, clearly with the aim of overrunning
the remnants of our position in Holland. In Westphalia he has
advanced past Münster; he has not captured the city but has suc-
ceeded in encirchng it. Rheine has so far beaten off the enemy
assault. The Ruhr front has in general held; Hamm, however, has
2 APRIL 1945 299
fallen into enemy hands. Soest has been recaptured by counter-

attack. Our hurriedly organised front in the Teutoburger Wald has
in general held. Very severe fighting is now taking place in Kassel.
Gerland* will have to bring off his master-stroke here. The Ameri-
cans have swung north from Eisenach and are reaching out for
further major gains of ground. The Neckar front has in general
held. It is pleasing to hear that even the Wehrmacht admits that
Gauleiters Hellmuth and Gerland have conducted themselves sup-
erbly. They are organising one centre of resistance after another and
as a result are creating a far better situation in their Gaus than in the
other Gaus of the West. I would have expected this from Gerland
anyway but as far as Hellmuth is concerned one can say: people
rise to the occasion. Hellmuth has always been a most retiring
unassuming Gauleiter in whom one had not too much confidence.
Now, however, it is clear that there is more to him than one
thought.
The American General Patton, who has been in command of the
whole Rhineland offensive, now states for the first time that his bUtz
offensive has come to a halt. German troops are putting up furious
resistance and only limited gains of ground are now reported, he
says.
From Kassel comes the news that, hke Mannheim, the city has
offered itssurrender over the telephone. I do not think this to
be true. The news has been spread deliberately. The Americans
obviously want to present these telephonic offers of surrender
as a regular occurrence in order to persuade other cities to follow
Mannheim's foul example.
In the East the situation in the Austro-Hungarian area has become
most precarious in that the enemy has now succeeded in capturing
Wiener Neustadt. We have been able to halt him south of Vienna. It
issatisfactory, however, that Schörner has once again succeeded in
general terms in beating off a heavy Soviet assault. His front is at
present the most solid we have. In Breslau too all enemy attacks
were beaten off. Hanke was given extraordinarily high praise at the
Führer's briefing conference. He deserves it too. He is the out-
standing commander among our fighting Gauleiters. threat to A
BerUn from an extraordinarily heavy enemy concentration in
arises
the Cottbus area. It must be anticipated that he will launch an
offensive from here.
Evenings are now invariably full of work and worry. For two
days the British had not paid Berlin the compliment of their
* Gauleiter of Mainfranken and Kurhessen.

300 2 APRIL 1945
Mosquito raids, so that one was entitled to hope that their losses
from our Mc262s had made them somewhat more cautious. This
evening, however, they are back again at the regular time. We must
not flatter ourselves, therefore, that these nerve-wracking evening
raids on the capital have come to an end.
TUESDAY 3 APRIL 1945
(pp. 1-42)
Military Situation.
On the Eastern Front the main centre of fighting was again in
Hungary where enemy pressure continues unabated.
A defensive position was formed around the Nagy Kanizsa area,
running from the junction of the Mur and Drau in a general north-
erly direction along the western edge of Nagy Kanizsa to the level of
Lake Balaton and thence swinging westwards. The enemy probed
forward against this line from the north and penetrated it at a few
places. At the same time he tried to outflank the switch Une from the
north.
Another line of defence was formed south of Steinamanger; it
runs generally along the German-Hungarian frontier as far as Guns.
Great activity on our side is noticeable in this area. The enemy was
driven back in various places, in particular at St Gotthard on the
railway from Steinamanger to Graz and north of Steinamanger.
A defence line also exists in the Semmering area and there the
enemy was unable to advance farther. On the other hand he suc-
ceeded in gaining further ground south and south-west of Wiener
Neustadt. He crossed the Vienna-Bruck-Graz railway at Neun-
kirchen but was then held. Wiener Neustadt fell into enemy hands.
From there the enemy advanced some 10-15 km northwards. His
leading troops are now some 15 km north and south-west of Wiener
Neustadt. The defensive front around Vienna is said to be very
strong. Moving north from the Neusiedlersee the enemy reached
Mannersdorf; the leading enemy troops were held, cut off and
annihilated. From the northern shore of the Neusiedlersee a switch
line runs to the eastern outskirts of Bratislava, along the eastern
edge of the Little Carpathians, turns east at Tyrnau and then joins
the Slovakian front. The Soviets made a local penetration at Tyrnau
but all other attacks on this new line were beaten off
The second main centre of fighting was in the Mährisch-Ostrau
302 3 APRIL 1945
area where the enemy continued his heavy and uninterrupted

attacks. He succeeded in making a deep penetration from the
Schwarzwasser area; he crossed the Oppeln-Mährisch-Ostrau
railway at Kreuzenort but was held by a strong counter-attack. The
Bolshevists made a local break-in west of Ratibor. Otherwise all
attacks were beaten off- generally by strong counter-attacks. It is
reported that in this area the enemy has so far not used his main tank
strength, so that a further reinforcement of his offensive must be
expected. Violent Soviet attacks at Ziegenhals and Neisse all failed.
The Soviets made small advances in certain housing blocks in
Breslau but otherwise they were driven off everywhere.
No special operations all along the Oder front as far as Dievenow.
The enemy attacked the few remaining small German bridge-
heads north and east of Danzig but there was no major change in
the situation. No particular operations reported from the areas of
Königsberg and Samland. Heavy Soviet attacks continued in
Courland with no change in the situation.
On the Western Front the enemy attacked both northwards and
eastwards on the Lower Rhine. From Enschede he reached Nord-
horn, the eastern outskirts of Rheine, Ibbenbüren and Lengerich.
Enemy detachments advancing on either side of Bielefeld encoun-
tered strong German resistance on the western edge of the
Teutoburger Wald and could make no further progress. Equally,
enemy forces advancing north towards Paderborn were stopped by
strong German counter-attacks. Hamm fell into enemy hands and
from there he pushed on towards Soest. We still hold Soest itself.
In Army Group B's sector there was particularly sustained
fighting on the Sieg front where the Americans, attacking north-
wards, encountered very strong German resistance. Nevertheless
the town of Siegen was lost. In Sauerland violent fighting
developed north-east of Winterberg, which was occupied by the
enemy. South of Kassel the enemy crossed the Fulda at Melsungen
and pushed forward to Eschwege. Between Eschwege and Eisenach
leading enemy troops crossed the Werra at Kreuzburg. From the
area of Fulda, which was occupied by the enemy, and the Rhön
leading enemy troops pushed forward to the Meiningen region.
Everywhere in this region there are still strong detachments of
German troops who are now fighting their way eastwards. In the
Aschaffcnburg area the enemy reached Lohr, then turned south
along the west bank of the Main and crossed the Main towards
Würzburg. From the Bad Mergentheim area enemy advanced
guards pressed on to the Würzburg-Nuremberg railway in the
region south of Kitzingen. In the Neckar sector the enemy reached
3 APRIL 1945 303
the area north of Heilbronn. Violent fighting is in progress at

Bruchsal. The enemy advanced a little farther south from the
Germersheim bridgehead.
Only local actions took place on the Italian front.
On enemy tank
the western battle front our air action against
concentrations and columns was successful. In all eleven enemy
aircraft were shot down. Enemy air formations from Italy dropped
bombs on Graz, Krems and St Polten. During the night 60 Mos-
quitos were over Berlin and 20 over Magdeburg.
* * * *
Our Gauleiters both in the West and the East have acquired a bad
habit: having lost Gau, they defend themselves in long
their
memoranda seeking to prove that they were in no way responsible.
For instance there is yet another of these exposes, this time from
Grohe. * It is not in the least convincing. Despite a series of pompous
declarations Grohe has not defended his Gau. He deserted it before
the civil population had been removed and now wants to present
himself as a great hero.
The behaviour of our Gauleiters and Kreisleiters in the West has
led to a great loss of confidence among the people. The people
thought that they could expect our Gauleiters to fight and, if necess-
ary, fall in action in their Gaus. In no case has this happened. As a
result it is more or less all over with the Party in the West.
Grohe may lament about the highly confused command rela-
tionships within the Wehrmacht but he had sufficient powers to do
something about it himself. The fact too that not enough soldiers
were available to parry the enemy offensive is also partially his fault
since he ought to have helped to comb the rear areas for skrim-
shankers. He also had sufficient powers to collect the numerous
stragglers, as was after all done on the Rhine. In short the
Wehrmacht cannot pin the blame for this disaster on the Party nor
the Party on the Wehrmacht; both carry a fiiU measure of it on their
shoulders.
In any case the enemy has now become somewhat more reticent
about his victories. He pays the highest tribute to our commanders
in the West for their continued success in organising resistance.
London reports that the first co-ordinated counter-attack has now
* Gauleiter of Köln-Aachen.
304 3 APRIL 1945
been made in an effort to relieve the Ruhr. Admittedly the Ameri-

cans defeated it but it was made with great fury.
Eisenhower has issued another proclamation to the people of the
occupied western districts or those about to be occupied. Nothing
fresh can be detected in this proclamation. Eisenhower is acting Uke
a new German Kaiser.
Moreover it is simply not true that the entire population of the
West is submitting to the enemy. On the contrary the Western
powers report that the prisons are full of refractory elements with
whom the occupation authorities are unable to deal. The people of
Frankfurt, however, seem to have been extraordinarily cowardly
and servile. The enemy's reports on the subject make one blush.
The Americans are said to have been received with large-scale
demonstrations as they moved in. The Frankfurters' watchword
was "Let's kiss and make friends." The Americans were quite
prepared to kiss — particularly the Frankfurt women; as far as
making friends is concerned, that is still some way off. Anyway the
enemy's only intentions in the West are to despoil us, to starve the
German people out and so exterminate it biologically. Nevertheless
it makes one sick to read such reports. How can this be wondered at,
however, when Sprenger* took off from Frankfurt before the

enemy was even in sight and left the city to its fate. The only answer
to this development is the Werwolf mentality. I therefore intend to
advocate a Werwolf mentality not only over the Werwolf radio
station but in anew German newspaper to be set up for the Wer-
wolf The Werwolf mentality idea is deliberately aimed at a ten per
cent minority of activists among the German people. Provided they
put in their word, however, these activists will carry the majority of
the German people along with them.
I have a report from the Weser-Ems Gau showing a trend similar
to that of previous reports from the West. It is the same picture of

demoralisation in the Weser-Ems Gau. The soldiers collect in
scattered groups, some of them throwing their weapons away.
They are ruining the morale of the civil population in this Gau when
it could have put up dogged resistance. For the first time the
people's morale is badly affected. In some cases these groups of

soldiers have even taken to looting. The watchword among them is
"Home to mother." The Luftwaffe is prominent in these miserable
goings-on, as must be re-emphasised. The Volkssturm and the
Hitler Youth, the report says, occupied the defensive positions but
they were largely unarmed, so not much could be expected of them.
* Gauleiter of Hessen-Nassau.
3 APRIL 1945 305
SeifFc, head of the Reich Propaganda Office, requests urgently that

squads of mihtary poUce be made available to him so that he can
round up these miserable collections of retreating soldiers.
All these developments are giving British pubhc opinion to hope
that the Reich is in complete disintegration. They think that they
will win a quick easy victory this way. The German people are
thought to be absolutely ready to surrender; though the govern-
ment may trumpet resistance and carry on, this would be out-
weighed by spontaneous popular reaction; the German people is in
process of exchanging the swastika for the white flag and so the
West will have an easy time with them. In so far as this is true it is the
fault of our own Party and Wehrmacht agencies. They have not
proved equal to the present crisis. I hope, however, that I shall
succeed in re-cstabUshing the general war morale in the West as I did
in the East a few weeks ago, though only by very great exertion. I
am helped by the fact that I now have a clear information policy
which is not confined to military war reporting but also very much
takes in the poUtical side.
As far as the political crisis of the war is concerned dissatisfaction
with the Kremlin's policy is increasing among the American public.
The San Francisco Conference is already written off almost every-
where. It is hoped to substitute a new Three-Power meeting for it.
No one knows, however, whether Stahn will agree to this. Stalin is
treating Roosevelt and Churchill hke dunces and it is only to be
hoped that this sort of provocation will gradually make the pot boil
over in the Western enemy camp.
As far as the San Francisco Conference is concerned, it is already a
thing of the past. It is thought that Churchill intends to fly to
Moscow again to try to persuade Stalin to give way. The progress
of the poHtical crisis among our enemies depends on the next
fortnight's developments. The main and deciding factor is whether
we succeed in organising some form of resistance in the West again.
The Jews have appUed for a seat at the San Francisco Conference.
It is characteristic that their main demand is that anti-semitism be
forbidden throughout the world. Typically, having committed the

most terrible crimes against mankind, the Jews would now like
mankind to be forbidden even to think about them.
I have a report from Königsberg about the situation in that area.
The unity between Party and Wehrmacht estabhshed by Kreisleiter

Wagner has been more or less destroyed by the intervention of
Koch. Kreisleiter Wagner has been demoted and is now in a sub-
ordinate post. Koch has taken charge of things himself using shirt-
sleeve methods, probably out of jealousy of his Kreisleiter. He is
3o6 3 APRIL 1945
now using in Königsberg the methods which did him so little credit
in the Ukraine.*
All is at present quiet in the Protectorate [Bohemia/Moravia].
The Czechs have no thought of joining the partisan movement.
Nevertheless the entire Czech pubHc expects a German defeat daily.
Germans in the Protectorate are desperately wondering when the
German leaders will at last come to their senses, when they will
learn from past mistakes and root out ruthlessly the obvious failures
among the leaders. This question is being asked not only by Ger-
mans in the Protectorate but throughout the Reich. It is almost
crippling to see how the lack of power of decision on personnel
problems among the Reich leaders is gradually spreading dis-
content throughout the people like a creeping disease.
In the air war the only heavy air raids we have had to suffer have
been from the south. No raids were made from England owing to
bad weather. So this time it was Austria's turn only.
I am now working indefatigably to give the German press clear
directions on the aims of our present war policy. Now that Dr
Dietrich is out of the way Sündermann is trying to take a hand in the
direction of the press. I shall stop that, however, by cancelling
Sündermann's reserved occupation status so that he can be made
available for the front. The German press now presents a
thoroughly bellicose aspect. The gravity of the situation is not
concealed; readers, however, are given the arguments with which
they can come to terms with the present situation in their minds. I
am myself dictating guidelines for the German press which are
intended to set the standard for the immediate future. They are as
follows*
"i. The entire German news and propaganda policy must now
be devoted exclusively to re-establishing and increasing the
power of resistance, the war effort and fighting morale both at the
front and at home. To achieve this aim all resources must be
harnessed to produce a direct and indirect impact on readers and
audiences. Anything which can be detrimental to this aim or runs
counter to it, even only passively, can have no place in press or
radio in these decisive days of our fateful struggle. Anything
which contributes to the achievement of this great purpose
should be expressly promoted and henceforth be a central feature
of our ncwscasting.
2. The main task of the press and radio is to make clear to the
German people that our Western enemies arc pursuing the same
* Koch had been Reich Commissioner for the Ukraine and had been notorious for
his brutahty.
3 APRIL 1945 307
infamous purposes and the same devilish annihilation plans

against theGerman people as are our Eastern enemies; the West is
using ostensibly more civilised methods only to deceive the Ger-
man people and entrap the feeble-minded. The brutal Anglo-
American air war is sufficient proof of our Western enemies'
bestiaHty and shows that all their ostensibly conciliatory phrases
are mere camouflage designed to paralyse the German people in
their stubborn defence of their right to exist. Our task is to point
out again and again that Churchill and Roosevelt are just as
merciless as Stalin and will ruthlessly carry out their plans for
annihilation should the German people ever give way and submit
to the enemy yoke.
3. Deeds of heroism at the front and at home should be given
priority and embellished with comment. They should not be
presented as isolated examples but should act as a stimulus for
everybody and a challenge to the whole nation to emulate these
shining examples of the struggle for our freedom.
4. The cultural section of our newspapers is not to become a little
bourgeois refuge for war-weary brothers. These columns too
must use every method to assist in reinforcing our national resis-
tance and our war morale. The particular job of the cultural editor
is to express in lofty varied language what has been said in the
political section on the military and poHtical struggle of the day.

In these weeks superficial intellectual vapourings, divorced from
the wâr as if it was "far away in Turkey", have no justification for
appearance. Aplethora of tasks and multifarious possibilities are
now open to the cultural editor. Discussion of Clause witz' writ-
ings, descriptions of the Second Punic War, comments on
Mommsen's Roman History, dissertations on Frederick the
Great's letters and writings, the careers of great warUke geniuses
aU through human history - these are only a few indications of the
new tasks which will do more to promote our purpose than inno-
cent entertaining anecdotes without political or moral content.
5. The local sections of our newspapers must subordinate them-
selves to these requirements. No

measures of communal or local
significance issuing from Wehrmacht should be
Party, State or
presented to the reader without simultaneously impressing upon
him forcibly that our struggle for existence requires the mobil-
isation of aU forces and the expenditure of aU reserves of man-
power and morale. Any sacrifice in the interests of the war,
however small and mundane, serves to concentrate our forces and
increase our capacity for resistance and must be explained to the
reader in this sense.
3o8 3 APRIL 1945
6. Newspaper publishers are recommended to pay particular

attention to the advertisement section. All inopportune left-overs
not in consonance with the spirit of the times should be eradi-
cated."
The Führer very much in agreement with the wording of this
is
directive. He convinced that I shall now succeed in getting

is
German press policy back on the rails.

I take leave of Fischer, hitherto Head of the German Press Sec-
tion, who is going to the Wehrmacht. Fischer is most downcast

over what has happened; I make clear to him, however, that I could
not have acted otherwise than I actually have.
Meister Hahne, the first man to be decorated with the Knight's
Cross to the War Service Cross, demonstrates to me a new gun on a
captured mounting; he can assemble and make available for BerUn
up to 200 of these guns from stocks available in Wehrmacht arsenals
and arms production workshops. Hahne proposes that a careful
check of Wehrmacht ordnance depots be made; they contain a mass
of parts which could be assembled to produce new weapons. We
must in fact now improvise in order even partially to make good the
serious shortfall in production. That in arms production is the most
important. Production at Alkett, for instance, is down by 50 % and
will fall even further next month. This is extraordinarily worrying
and we must adopt new makeshift methods if we are to avoid the
resulting calamity.
Once more a mass of new decrees and instructions issue from
Bormann. Bormann has turned the Party Chancellery into a paper
factory. Every day he sends out a mountain of letters and files which
the Gauleiters, now involved in battle, no longer even have time to
read. In some cases too it is totally useless stufFof no practical value
in our struggle. Even in the Party we have no clear leadership in
contact with the people.
As far as our situation in the West is concerned, we now have
three major operations planned: one from Holland in the direction
of Hamm under command of Colonel-General Student; General
Bayerlein is to try to fight his way out of the Ruhr; an attempt is to
be made to meet him with a counter-attack from outside. In Thurin-
gia a new army under command of General Schulz, well known as
having been decorated with the Swords, is to be formed from the
units flooding into the area. This army is to take the enemy in flank
and try to cut off considerable numbers of his units. Hausser has
meanwhile been reheved of his command. He has definitely not
stood the test. Obergruppenführer Steiner has been despatched to
the Vienna area. He is to hold on there in all circumstances. The
3 APRIL 1945 309
Führer has issued the strictest orders of the whole war for the
defence of Vienna. Our soldiers must hold out here man for man
and anyone who leaves his post is to be shot. It is hoped in this way
to get the better of the critical developments in the Vienna area.
Schörncr's stock stands very high with the Führer. He has beaten
off attacks on the Mährisch-Ostrau industrial zone with the utmost
courage. Schörner is our most outstanding army commander.
Guderian has lost a great deal of credit with the Führer. Both in the
Baranov and Hungarian areas he urged offensive action pre-
maturely and so placed our operations at great risk, in fact made
them impossible. The Führer has accordingly sent him on leave.
In the Führer's view the moment of decision is now upon us in the
West. The Führer is indefatigable in urging the generals to resist and
leave no stone unturned in order to throw fresh units into the
western battle. He calls each individual army commander almost
daily and points out to them what is at stake and what their duties
and obligations are. In my view it would be better if the Führer
addressed the people direct since here in fact are the grass-roots of
resistance. Once the people were once more ready to resist, aU the
others would regain their old form. What both the people and the
troops lack is the stirring word to rouse both man and woman. In
the nature of things this stirring word can come only from the
Führer. It is wrong, therefore, for the generals to think that I should
speak instead of the Führer.
The situation is such that only a word from the Führer can reUeve
the crisis of morale in which the people is plunged at the moment. I
regard it as a great mistake that the Führer does not speak. Even if at
the moment we have no victory to which we can point, the Führer
could still say something; it is not only in victory that one should
speak but in misfortune as well. It is at present very difficult to get
decisions from the Führer. He is occupied exclusively with the
situation in the West and barely fmds time for other problems. If,
however, he succeeds in clearing up the situation in the West even
partially, he will have done something which may decide the war.
At the daily briefing conferences the Luftwaffe comes in for the
sharpest criticism from the Führer. Day after day Goring has to
listen without being in a position to demur at all. Colonel-General
Stumpff, for instance, refused to subordinate himself to Kesselring
for the new operations planned in the West. The Führer called him
sharply to order saying that the relative positions of Kesselring and
Stumpff were similar to those of him and Schaub.
In the West, of course, it is now and for the immediate future a
continuous process of muddling through. We are in the most
310 3 APRIL 1945
critical and dangerous phase of this war and one sometimes has the
impression that the German people, fighting at the height of the war
crisis, has broken out in a sweat impossible for the non-expert to
distinguish as the precursor of death or recovery.
The Führer has had very prolonged discussions with Ober-
gruppenführer Kammler who now carries responsibiUty for the
reform of the Luftwaffe. Kammler is doing excellently and great
hopes are placed on him.
As far as the situation in the West this evening is concerned it has
deteriorated only in Thuringia. Here the enemy has advanced as far
as Gotha. At the moment we have nothing with which to oppose
him since we do not wish to dissipate our offensive forces. Sauckel
is working feverishly to put his Gau into a state of defence. In the
Teutoburger Wald too the enemy has registered small gains of

ground but they arc of no great significance. Otherwise he is closing
up all along the Western Front so that we must certainly reckon
with further attacks in the next few weeks.
In the South-east the enemy has moved nearer Vienna. We are
determined to hold here in all circumstances, cost what it may.
Schörner, on the other hand, has beaten off all Soviet attacks made
on his front - a really first-class heroic achievement. The Führer is
extraordinarily pleased with Schörner's methods in the field.
Schörner will undoubtedly be the next Field-Marshal and he has
earned this promotion.
At this Tuesday's briefmg conference the Führer was no longer so
abusive of the generals. He is doing his utmost now to puU his
mihtary staff together, to inspire them with fresh courage and fill
them with confidence for the future. He is tirelessly preaching a
spirit of battle and resistance, as I am now doing in our Werwolf
propaganda. My directive to the press has given him an opportunity
to show the generals how such a job should be approached. The
Führer is also extraordinarily pleased with my work on WerwolE
He said at the briefmg conference that this is the way things must be
done if the people are not to become a prey to despair.
This evening I dictate another call to the Werwolf movement in
language reminiscent ofthat used in Angriffin the good old days of
our struggle.
We have two air-raid alerts in BerÜn this evening. So the enemy is
not proposing to give us time off in the Reich capital. On the
contrary the break has been only for reasons of weather and the
series of air-raid alerts will undoubtedly not come to an end for the
present.
[Entries for 4, 5 and 6 April 1945 are missing]
SATURDAY 7 APRIL 1945
[pp. 9-39, pp. 1-8 (Military Situation) missing.]

The British press has suddenly done a complete about-turn. It is
now full of admiration for the German people's leadership and their
power of resistance, for our miBtary achievements and for the high
morale maintained by the German nation in this fateful struggle.
British generals are writing that it would not be fair to withhold
admiration. Above all, according to the British, German tenacity is
beyond all praise.
Our Werwolf activity is now being taken extraordinarily seri-
ously in Anglo-American circles, so seriously that Eisenhower is

said to be toying with the idea of using gas against Werwolf
detachments. That would be entirely in Une with Anglo-American
conduct of war but it would not deter us in the shghtest since we
should then use appropriate counter-measures against Anglo-
American soldiers.
Reuters carry an extraordinarily interesting poUtico-military
report, for the first time giving a correct analysis of our present war
policy. In particular the fact of our Werwolf activity is given proper
emphasis among the general war clamour. The British realise that
the Werwolf could be the germ of an extraordinarily dangerous
instrument of German resistance to be maintained at any cost and
for an unpredictable time.
People in London are more afraid than anything of the emergence
of chaos in Germany which would put off pacification of Europe to
the Greek Kalends. The Werwolf in particular is regarded as the
germ of such a development which would, of course upset the
entire Anglo-American war concept.
The Schwarze Korps carries a sensational article which will un-
doubtedly do us a lot of damage. The article says quite openly that
we no longer have any prospect of holding out militarily but that
the idea must live on in all circumstances. Naturally this article has
created a considerable stir primarily because it appears in the
312 4 APRIL 1945
Schwarze Korps and is therefore taken as an expression of opinion

from the diehard National-Sociahst camp. The editors of the
Schwarze Korps maintain that the article was included in the paper in
error. I do not believe that. I am inclined to think that certain
over-intellectual elements are entering a state of nirvana. I shall take
most brutal steps against this.
Dr Ley's leading article deals with the Werwolf question. It is
quite impossible and I therefore had to reject it. Dr Ley is now
getting Kiehl, his press officer, to write a fresh article overnight, the
first name and to make sense. It would be more
to appear in his
practical if Dr Ley would have his articles written by his staff in
future; then we should at least have some guarantee of ehminating
the cruder absurdities.
The Americans have now formed a trades union in Aachen,
hoping to curry favour with German workers. The inaugural meet-
ing was a pretty colourless affair with no more than 40 men and
women present. This cannot be said to be representative of the
working class in the occupied areas.
Graf Krosigk writes me another pressing letter asking me to
impress on the Führer the necessity for a more active foreign poUcy.
He regards the war situation as so menacing that he concludes that
we must act at once if it is not to be too late.
In this connection have news from Bohle about the Foreign
I
Office's activities in neutral countries. The Foreign Office is at

present active both in Switzerland and Sweden and also in Spain.
The results are fairly shattering. With Britain there is nothing
whatsoever to be done at the moment. Under Churchill's lead-
ership British poUcy proves to be totally intransigent. Churchill has
now got it into his head that the German Reich must be destroyed
and the German people annihilated. There is not the smallest
loophole here. Soundings have shown that there is somewhat more
to be done with the USA always provided that they are given
possibiUties of economic expansion in Europe. Roosevelt is nothing
like so unapproachable as Churchill. A whole series of conditions
arc necessary, however, before one can even start talking to the
USA. The most productive feelers have been those put out to the
Soviet Union. However the Soviet Union demands East Prussia
which is naturally an unacceptable requirement.
The Foreign Office has operated fairly ineptly in these negoti-
ations.It has used the old routine diplomats who are of course not
mentally attuned to presenting the National-Socialist viewpoint to

the enemy. But what else can one expect from the Foreign Office!
Ribbentrop is having pictures of himself published in the news-
4 APRIL 1945 313
papers showing him in the trenches on the Oder front. Anyone

seeing these pictures will at once conclude that the German Foreign
Minister should now have something more important to do than
trot round on the Oder front.
The Turkish government is now begging for a fair wind from
Moscow. Saracoglu's* statements are cringmgly servile. Stalin wül
soon give him the appropriate answer.
KremHn now feels itself on top of the situation.
In any case the
The Soviets have earned good marks from the by abrogating USA
their pact of friendship with Japan. This was an extraordinarily
adroit tactical move by StaUn; his purpose was to take the wind out
of the sails of Roosevelt's domestic opposition. In addition he
proposes to take a hand in the East Asia conflict in order to be able to
fish in troubled waters when the time arrives. The extent to which
he is going is clear from an article in Izvestia attacking Japan and her
predatory pohcy in extraordinarily sharp terms. This is the way it
begins and one knows how it wiU end. Anyway Roosevelt is
entitled to be very pleased with the help StaHn is giving him at the
moment.
Smuts t has made an extraordinarily gloomy speech at the Imper-
ialConference now sitting in London. He regards San Francisco as
the last chance for civilised mankind. If San Francisco fails, then
what we regard as cultured mankind would be doomed. human A
catastrophe of unimaginable proportions would be the inevitable
result. A third world war would be waged with new and even more
devastating weapons. What remained of mankind would be neither
worthy nor capable of existence.
A new conflict has now arisen in Poland in that the Soviets have
arrested and deported 1 5 influential PoHsh pohticians. The NK VD
invited them to come for negotiations and then simply arrested
them out of hand. I There is extraordinary consternation in London
and Washington. Reuters' report on the subject is very candid.
In general it may be said that influential circles in London and
Washington are becoming more and more uneasy over the Krem-
lin's imperialist poHcy. In London people are already saying that the
future world outlook is frightful if the KremHn persists in this
pohcy. The mihtary victories are completely overshadowed by
these prospects. In Washington, however, these considerations are
temporarily outweighed by Stahn's adroit move vis-a-vis Tokyo.
* The Turkish Prime Minister.

t Prime Minister of South Africa.
% On this episode see Z. Stypulkowski, Invitation to Moscow (195 1).
3U 4 APRIL 1945
The Japanese are in consternation. They comfort themselves with

the thought that the Japanese-Soviet treaty runs until April 1946.
but this is small consolation.
Otherwise the Soviet press is now attacking the rumours about
separate peace negotiations between Moscow and Berlin. Their
language is less violent than one might expect, however. Here too
Stahn wishes to keep alldoors open.
Developments in theAustro-Hungarian area continue to be most
unfortunate. The removal of their armbands from the crack SS
divisions has had a devastating effect. A number of SS officers were
broken-hearted and shot themselves. Kerstcn, one of the Führer's
aides who was with these divisions, was told by certain authorita-
tive members of them that Berlin was finished as far as they were
concerned, that they would allow themselves to be hewn in pieces
for the Führer, that they were ready to go into the attack again
wherever they were told but that the Führer would never see them
again. It is a most tragic affair which brings tears to one's eyes. I am
all for being strict and stern in our conduct of the war but please let it
be so in all cases. The SS officers will not and cannot understand that
the most atrocious shortcomings on the part of the Luftwaffe,
which have resulted in practically the whole of the Reich going up
in flames, should go unpunished, while a single failure on the part of
these divisions, which otherwise have covered themselves with
glory, is punished so savagely.
Once again the Luftwaffe can register the fiasco of its con-
structional and operational policy. The enemy has made extra-
ordinarily heavy raids on Leipzig, Halle and Gera. Devastation
upon devastation has been wrought on these urban areas. Things
have now gone so far that these raids can no longer be recorded. The
news of the air war can barely be unravelled.
Our suicide fighters were in action for the first time during this
Saturday when the weather was only semi-favourable. Great suc-
cess is expected from these missions but wc will wait and see.
The evacuation problem is still most critical. In the West evacu-
ation is in fact no longer practicable. As I had foreseen, the Führer's
order cannot be carried out. No one now knows where people are to
go. How can such extensive and thickly populated areas be emptied!
As a result the evacuation problem in the West has been quietly
shelved. In the East, on the other hand, it is a different matter. There
are still large masses of people in the constricted East Prussian area.
And now the question arises whether Vienna should be evacuated
or not. I do not think that the Viennese population is showing the
smallest desire to leave the city.
4 APRIL 1945 315
For the first time since the beginning of the war small riots have
taken place in BerÜn-Rahnsdorf Two bakeries were invaded and
loaves seized by 200 men and women. I have decided to take brutal
measures against them at once, for such symptoms of weakness and
incipient defeatism can in no circumstances be tolerated. Even if the
food supply is not of the best at the moment, it is quite impossible to
take such goings-on calmly or they would set an example and then
we should be more or less lost. I am therefore demanding that the
Berlin court martial take immediate proceedings against the ring-
leaders of this riot.
Colonel Fett from Field-Marshal Keitel's staff briefs me about the
formation of the seven fresh divisions designated for our offensive
in Thuringia. They consist of three divisions from the Labour
Service and are primarily Peoples Grenadier Divisions. Their
equipment is comparatively good, though they have no tanks. They
will be made semi-mobile and will be equipped mainly with artil-
lery, assault guns, carbines, machine guns and bazookas. They may
achieve something since their manpower material is excellent.
Cadres will be furnished by officers from the cadet schools. From
the manpower point of view, therefore, the material of which these
divisions are formed can be regarded as qualitatively satisfactory.
The question is whether these divisions can be sufficiently welded
together in so short a time as to form real fighting formations. As
things are there must be some doubt about this. On the other hand it
is hoped that the quality of men assembled in these divisions will do
much to compensate for this. They come mainly from the 1928
class, which is of course excellent. This is a provisional arrangement
which is being tried out for the first time and naturally impHes
great risk. The divisions should be ready for action by 20 April.
Contrary to what the Führer thinks therefore, we cannot set any
store by them in the next few days. We have to wait another
fortnight and there is a danger that by that time the enemy will have
reinforced his flanks so that these divisions will meet considerable
resistance.
The capital's stock-taking does not show a great reduction this
week, as I had feared. In general terms it has kept static though we
have to record large shortfalls in certain sectors, particularly petrol
and food, to say nothing of coal. Only small quantities of coal are
arriving in Berlin. As a result I am introducing my planned restric-
tions on traffic and reductions in the supply of gas to private houses.
These unpleasant measures have naturally led to great discontent
among the public but I can do nothing else than introduce these
measures in order to preserve what can still be preserved.
3r6 4 APRIL 1945
I have passed a weekend full of worry, of mental and material

strain and also of doubt. I am most depressed over the Führer's
action against the SS divisions which, of course, is extraordinarily
humiliating for all SS officers including those in my entourage. One
cannot imagine the state of mind in which they are now. I would so
much like to help them but do not know what I can do. Perhaps I
will make a personal approach to the Führer to ask him to mitigate
these measures somewhat.
This afternoon I write a leading article headed "Resistance at any
Price". In this article I use extremist language as also in an article on
Werwolf For the first time I discard to some extent my measured
reserve. There is no object now in talking round the point. One
must call a spade a spade even at the risk of the enemy making some
use of what one says.
Bishop Galen of Münster has been interviewed by American
journalists. Unexpectedly he attacked our Anglo-American
enemies and their air terror. He is also afraid of the increasing
bolshevisation of Germany. Mr Bishop ought to have thought of
this earlier. When we were giving warnings against bolshevisation
he was always on the other side. He is a chameleon, or rather a
Westphalian blockhead who always says the opposite of what
public opinion thinks.
The evening situation report brings little good news. In the West
the enemy has kept up the momentum of his advance. He is now
some 1 5 km from Hildesheim and moving straight on Hannover. In
addition he has passed through Bückeburg and is now in the region
of Minden. So we in Berlin are gradually being threatened from the
western side. South of Verden the enemy has swung towards
Bremen. He is trying to capture a major port whatever happens.
South of the Harz the situation is more or less unchanged. On the
other hand in Thuringia the enemy has advanced to Erfurt and has
captured Suhl and Zella-Mehlis which is extremely distressing
from the point of view of arms production. He is now west of
Kitzingcn and has advanced to Uffenheim and almost to Din-
kelsbühl. He has dropped airborne troops in this area but it is hoped
to deal with them. The situation is somewhat more favourable in
the Hcilbronn area and also in the Ruhr where Model's Army
Group is fighting excellently. The situation in Holland has also been
consolidated somewhat.
In the East Vienna is the critical point. The enemy has reached the
city area on the south-west. He is outside St Polten. The south-
eastern section of Vienna is already largely in his hands. Worse still,
however, is the political situation which has emerged in Vienna as a
4 APRIL 1945 317
result. Riots have taken place in the former red suburbs of the city
and these have assumed such proportions that Schirach has been
helpless and has had to place himself under the protection of the
troops. That is typical of Schirach. He lets things take their course
and then takes refuge with the soldiers. I never expected anything
else from him. Here is an example of the pernicious consequences of
the Führer's lack of decision on matters of personnel poUcy.
Schirach* has long been overdue for dismissal, but the Führer has
not been able to make up his mind to despatch him to the wil-
derness. Now the severest measures must be taken to clean up the
situation in Vienna. The Führer is still determined to hold the aty
come what may. The events taking place in Vienna itself must not,
of course, be over-dramatised. Merely a rabble is responsible for
these riots and this rabble must be shot down. But things ought not
to have got so far. The case of Rahnsdorf in Berlin is an example.
The ringleaders were sentenced by the Peoples Court this very
afternoon. Three were condemned to death — one man and two
women. The case of one of the women is less serious so that I have
decided to pardon her. The other two who were condemned to
death I shall have beheaded during the night. The people of Rahns-
dorf will be informed by placard that these two ringleaders have
been sentenced and executed; the rest of the Berhn population will
be told over the wired broadcast with appropriate comment. I think
that this will have a most sobering effect. In any case I am of the
opinion that no more bakeries in Berlin will be looted in the
immediate future. This is how one must proceed if one is to keep
order in a city with millions of inhabitants — and order is a pre-
requisite for continuation of our resistance.
The only other unfavourable development reported from the
Eastern Front is in the Königsberg area where the enemy has been
able to penetrate to a greater depth.
During the course of the day our were in action
suicide fighters
for the first time against enemy Successes have not
air raids.
yet been counted but it seems that they were not as great as had
been hoped. It must not be forgotten, however, that this is the
first trial and the experiment need not yet be written off as a
failure.
Magda has returned from Schwanenwerder for a visit to Berhn.
A somewhat melancholy evening during which one piece of bad
news after another descends on the house. One sometimes wonders
desperately where all this will lead. The Führer must be expending
* Baldur von Schirach, former Reich Youth Leader, was Gauleiter of Vienna.
3i8 4 APRIL 1945
an unparalleled amount of nervous energy to keep his poise in this

super-critical situation. I still have hope, however, that he will get
the better of the situation. He has always known how to await his
moment with lofty calm. When the moment comes, however, then
he invariably jumps in with both feet.
SUNDAY 8 APRIL 1945
(pp- 1-39)
Military Situation.
In the East heavy enemy attacks were concentrated in the Vienna
and Königsberg areas.
The situation in the Vienna area has deteriorated considerably.
The Soviets advanced north-west and north from Baden and
reached the Danube at Tulln. More numerous Soviet forces pene-
trated into the southern, western and northern suburbs of Vienna.
The East Station, the Arsenal and the South Station were lost. The
East Station and the Arsenal were recovered by counter-attack.
Some of the inhabitants of the southern suburbs fought on the
Soviet side against our own troops.
In the battle for Königsberg bolshevist reinforcements launched
converging attacks and reached the Main Station. They also reached
the south bank of the Pregel near its mouth. Penetrations on the
eastern outskirts were dealt with by counter-attack.
On the Oder front two bridges which the enemy had captured
were destroyed.
Otherwise no special developments on the Eastern Front.
On the Western Front the northern enemy grouping made
further gains of ground. Enemy forces advanced through Rheine as
far as Schapen and Lengerich. The enemy offensive towards Bre-
men reached Twistringen, Vilsen and the region west of Verden.
American forces moved forward from their bridgehead on the east
bank of the Weser south of Hameln, reaching Elze and a point just
south of Hildesheim.
A fresh area of concentrated enemy effort is the southern edge of
the Thüringer Wald where he attacked strongly towards Hild-
burghausen. He captured Themar and Schleusingen. From the
Würzburg area the Americans pushed on north-east towards
Schweinfurt and along the Würzburg-Nuremberg road to the
region of Iphofen. Enemy armour drove through a gap in the front
320 8 APRIL 1945
south of Mergcntheim reaching Crailsheim and Jagstheim. Flank

attacks are being made against them. No major change in the
situation in theHeilbronn-Karlsruhe area.
and the Ruhr the enemy launched violent attacks on
hi Sauerland
our forces between Obcrhauscn and Gclsenkirchen and in particular
at Soest but he achieved local successes only at certain points.
Strong American bomber formations made daylight raids on
north and north-west Germany, in particular on Neumünster,
Lüneburg, Uelzen. Schwerin and Güstrow. So far six aircraft are
reported shot down. Further reports of successes arc not yet to
hand. There was large-scale enemy fighter-bomber activity con-
centrated on Wcissenfels, Gera and Weimar. Some 500 American
four-engined bombers from Italy raided Innsbruck and Klagenfurt.
During the night some 250 British bombers raided the Espenhcim
area. Eleven enemy aircraft were shot down.
* * *
In London change of mood is noticeable in that people are

a certain
no longer imminent end to the war but are resigned to
talking of an
a continuance of mihtary operations. There has been a rude awaken-
ing from the illusionism of the Easter period when people expected
the German surrender hourly. People are once again thinking in
terms of three months before Germany is ground to the floor. I
think that British public opinion will be by no means content with
these constantly changing forecasts by British leaders. Obviously
such short-sighted propaganda does not pay off in the long run. It
merely keeps people's nerves on edge.
Anglo-American journalists working in the occupied regions are
giving vent to the view that the German people will never capitu-
late. Only Hitler, Himmler or Goebbels, they say, could conclude a
peace with Germany's enemies and they are in no way prepared to
do so unless this peace was in the interests of the German people.
Anglo-American war reporters are gradually finding that the
atmosphere in Germany is one of what they call stifling hatred and
this naturally does not fail to make its impression on them. In

addition, anxiety about the post-war period is growing in England
day by day. The British people has become a people without hope.
It was driven into this fateful war by Churchill and, looked at ä la
longue, will lose it whatever happens, whether it emerges victorious

or not. In addition Britain has plunged Europe into the most fright-
ful misery, not only her enemies but also friendly countries. The
newspapers in the French capital, for instance, are now coming out
8 APRIL 1945 321
with great headlines to the effect that Paris is facing starvation.

Conditions in France seem to be beyond description. We have no
need of our own reports to prove it; Anglo-American reports tell us
enough.
The United Press reports sad news from Mülhausen in Thurin-
gia. Our entire gold reserves amounting to hundreds of tons and
vast art treasures, including the Nefertiti, have fallen into American
hands in the salt mines there. I have always opposed the removal of
gold and art treasures from Berlin but, despite my objections.
Funk* refused to take advice. Probably he was talked into it by his
staffand advisers who were desirous of moving to an ostensibly safe
province, in other words Thuringia. Now by criminal dereliction of
duty they have allowed the German people's most treasured pos-
sessions to fall into enemy hands. On enquiry from the Reichsbahn I
learn that certain somewhat ineffectual steps had been taken for the
priority move of the gold and art treasures from Thuringia to
Berlin; remarkably enough they were not put into effect because of
the Easter holiday. One could tear one's hair out when one thinks
that the Reichsbahn is having an Easter holiday while the enemy is
looting our entire stock of gold. If I were the Führer I should know
what has now to be done. I imagine, however, that those respons-
ible will in no way be called to account. People in Germany now can
do just what they like. There is no strong hand to take appropriate
action against such crimes of neglect of duty.
Tokyo, the Japanese capital, has again been heavily raided by
American bombers. It seems that these air raids are having a very
bad effect on Japanese morale, since the Japanese are singing very
small both to the Soviets and the Anglo-Americans. A Japanese
statement, for instance, says that the Japanese have never done the
Soviets any harm and that it is the job of the Soviets to reorganise
Europe, whereas for East Asia this devolves on Japan. Thoughtfully
there is no mention of us in this order of precedence. I have the
irnpression that the Japanese have lost their traditional phlegm and
self-assurance.
Suzuki's new
Japanese government is composed of fairly
unknown people. Suzuki himself
is temporarily taking over the
Foreign Ministry but it is thought that in a few days he will entrust

foreign policy to Togo, the former Japanese Ambassador in Berlin.
Togo is among the more pliable characters and there is nothing to
be expected from him as far as we are concerned. The Japanese
Embassy in Berlin admits that the new government is one to weigh
* Minister for Economic Affairs.

322 8 APRIL 1945
the possibilities, perhaps even try out the ground. As far as Japanese
war policy is concerned, therefore, one thing may be taken as
certain: it would be the bloodiest irony in the history of this war if in
the end Japan too was lost to us and we were left quite alone in the
field.
Suzuki's first governmental statement is in general a strong and
firm one. But one knows that story. Badoglio too initially made a
robust war speech only to stab us in the back a few weeks later. So
one must treat such declarations with much suspicion. Until one
knows what the new Japanese government is actually doing, I shall
not place any great hopes in it. The order of the day seems to be to
remain very much on the watch to avoid being overtaken one day
by unpleasant surprises.
Within the enemy coalition suspicion continues to grow. Stet-
tinius, the American Foreign Minister, is at great pains to champion
the San Francisco — or San Fiasco — Conference which is in con-
siderable disarray before it has even opened. In a speech in New
York he decried the panic rumours being spread about this con-
ference and declared that the difficulties which have arisen between
the Allies, though admittedly great, must be overcome. Otherwise
Stettinius propounded totally vague peace aims for the coalition, of
which one cannot make head nor tail. The conflict between the
enemy powers revolves primarily round the question of the kid-
napping of 15 Polish underground leaders. These underground
leaders are simply no longer to be found. A guessing game is in
progress in London and Washington as to where the Soviets have
taken them. The suspicion is voiced that Moscow has laid hands on
them in order to negotiate with them direct, by-passing the
Anglo-Americans, and so produce a viable solution to the problem
of reconstitution of the LubHn Committee. In that case the British
and Americans would be completely outwitted and short-circuited
in Poland.
From all these reports it can be deduced that there is fear and
suspicion of each other within the enemy coalition but that it is the
Soviet Union which is the object of the greatest fear and the greatest
suspicion.
The Soviets have again got the upper hand through their miUtary
victories in the Vienna area. They are now fighting in the Vienna
suburbs and slowly pushing forward to the centre. The Vienna
suburbs have largely taken up arms on the side of the Red Army,
resulting naturally in a fairly wretched state of affairs in Vienna.
This is what we get from the so-called Viennese humour which,
much against my will, we have always cosseted and extolled in our
8 APRIL 1945 323
press and radio. The Führer appreciated the Viennese correctly.

They are an odious crew, a mixture of Poles, Czechs, Jews and
Germans. I however, that the Viennese would have been
think,
better kept in check had there been a decent and, above all, energetic
political leader at the helm. Schirach was not the right man. But
how often have I said that and how often has no one Ustened to me!
In the last 24 hours Anglo-American air raids have been mainly
directed on airfields in the Mecklenburg, Hamburg and Holstein
areas. In addition they attacked our hydrogenation plant at
Pöhlberg.
The use of our suicide fighters has not produced the success
first
hoped for. is that the enemy bomber formations

The reason given
did not fly concentrated so that they had to be attacked individually.
In addition our suicide fighters encountered such heavy defensive
fire from enemy fighters that only in a few cases were they able to
ram. But we must not lose courage as a result. This is only an initial
trial which is to be repeated in the next few days, hopefully with
better results.
The Wc have to all
situation at the front has never been so bad.
intents and purposes lost Vienna. The enemy has penetrated deep
into Königsberg. The Anglo-Americans are not far from
Braunschweig and Bremen. In short, on the map the Reich looks
hke a small strip running from Norway to Lake Comacchio. We
have lost the most important areas of food supply and arms poten-
tial. The Führer must now launch our offensive in Thuringia as
quickly as possible to give us room to breathe. In any case, with the

potential available to us, we shall not be able to breathe much
longer.
The Führer has now awarded Hanke the German Order in Gold.
After Hierl, therefore, Hanke is the second German to receive this
order, though in a lower class. As he told me over the telephone,
Hanke is very pleased. He regards the situation in Breslau as extra-
ordinarily critical. He does not know hoW much longer he can hold
out. In any case this high honour is very much merited. He has done
wonderfully and his pugnacious attitude has brought renown to the
Party.
The Rahnsdorf affair* can now be considered completely closed.
The Rahnsdorf Kreisleiter called an open-air meeting at which he
announced the draconian sentences passed and executed on the
ringleaders. These sentences are regarded by the people of Rahns-
dorf as a deliverance. I am convinced that the people of Berlin can
* See above pp. 315, 317.

324 4 APRIL 1945
always be persuaded to support maintenance of public law and

order. Refractory elements must be routed. Experience shows that
the sympathy of those in favour of law and order is enlisted thereby
and they are in general the far greater majority.
The evening situation report contains the news that the main
centre of fighting is in Lower Saxony. The enemy is now west and
south of Hannover. Hildesheim has fallen into his hands. He is
pressing on fast towards Bremen and is now west of Verden an der
Aller. By throwing in reserve units attempts are being made to halt
this advance which has again gathered breakneck speed. The enemy
has crossed the Weser west and south of Göttingen. In general terms
the situation in Thuringia is unchanged. Only at Hildburghausen
were the Americans able to advance. Schweinfurt is threatened.
Our troops are at present successfully resisting the American
advance beyond Würzburg. All reports confirm that the Americans
have suffered enormous losses; but they can afford them at the
moment. Pforzheim has also fallen into enemy hands. On the other
hand our position in Holland is holding out well. Our parachute
troops are putting up extraordinarily courageous and dogged resis-
tance there.
The main feature of the situation on the Eastern Front is the
extraordinarily severe fighting in the centre of Vienna. The Soviets
succeeded in crossing the Danube east of Vienna; otherwise they
have moved in the direction of St Polten. Extraordinarily unpleas-
ant incidents continue to occur among the population of Vienna,
naturally increasing the difficulty of the situation for our units
fighting there. Schirach can write that down on the debit side of his
account. He is responsible for the behaviour of the people of Vienna
and he cannot evade this responsibility. Schörner has launched an
offensive to break up the enemy assembly areas. This offensive has
made good progress. In Breslau the enemy attacked very heavily
from all sides but in general was held. Nevertheless one must now
begin to ask oneself the question how long this can go on. The
enemy also made an extraordinarily heavy attack on Königsberg.
Here the Soviets were able to penetrate to some depth.
An anxious evening once more; after the interval of the last few
days the enemy renewed his Mosquito raids on the capital. We have
become so used to these Mosquito raids that they have, so to speak,
become part of the daily programme. On an evening when the
British do not visit the Reich capital the people of Berlin feel that
something is missing.
MONDAY 9 APRIL 1945
(pp. i-io, "Military Situation" only)

Military Situation.
The centres of fighting on the Eastern Front were again the Vienna
and Königsberg areas.
In Vienna, via the Kahlenberg and Frinzing the enemy reached
the Franz-Joseph Station and the neighbourhood of the Danube
Canal. In the west of the city too he penetrated farther in some
places. Fierce house-to-house fighting is in progress east of
Mariabrunn, at St Veit und Mauer and on the south and south-
eastern front of Vienna. The Bolshevists made only minor gains of
ground at the Arsenal and in the Museum grounds. Enemy troops
who had crossed at Nussdorf were driven back. On either side of
the Vienna-St Polten road and railway Soviet forces reached an area
20 km east of St Polten. The enemy made numerous local attacks
between the Drau and the Vienna battle zone but in general they
were repulsed.
Along the frontier of the Protectorate numerous enemy attacks
on the March sector were in general repulsed. In the western part of
Slovakia bolshevist attacks northwards reached the Protectorate
frontier in the area Holic-Trentschin.
South of Ratibor an enemy bridgehead was reduced by counter-
on the western edge of Breslau was dealt
attack; a local break-in
with.
No special developments on the Neisse front.
The enemy continues to move west from the Danzig area. It is
thought that Soviet forces released from this area are being trans-
ferred to the Stettin or Frankfurt fronts. In the battle for Königsberg
the enemy succeeded making deep penetrations and cutting
in
communications with Samland. With the enemy advancing from
west, cast and north the garrison of Königsberg is reduced to a small
area.
No special actions in Courland.
326 9 APRIL 1945
On the Western Front enemy pressure in eastern Holland

on Deventcr are in progress. They are
increased. Violent attacks
being made primarily by Canadian formations. Leading enemy
troops advancing north reached the Almelo— ZwoUe— Meppel area.
No special developments reported from the Lingen-Rheine area. In
the area south of Bremen leading enemy troops made only a com-
paratively small advance. From Twistringen they moved along the
railway as far as Bassum. The enemy advanced farther eastwards
towards Hannover from the area between Nienburg and Minden.
His leading troops are in the region of Neustadt bei Wunstorf,
Stadthagen and Bückeburg. Enemy forces swung north from Hil-
desheim towards Lehrte, reaching a point south of the Weser— Elbe
canal so that an attack on Hannover from west and south is now to
be expected. Leading enemy troops are some 10-15 km north of
Hildesheim, in other words 20-30 km south of Hannover. Another
enemy grouping moved eastwards south of Hildesheim and
reached the region of Bockenem between Hildesheim and Salzgit-
ter. Other enemy forces reached Alfeld, Kreiensen and Einbeck.
The Americans advanced into Göttingen where fierce fighting

flared up, particularly in the barracks area. The enemy dropped
parachute troops at Bad Soodcn on the Werra and formed a bridge-
head on the east bank. Fierce fighting is in progress here. No change
in the situation in the areas Mühlhausen and Langensalza—Gotha.
The enemy was driven out of Fricdrichsroda by counter-attack. We
also attacked at Tambach-Dietharz and inflicted severe losses on the
enemy. The enemy is fanning out from Hildburghausen but he
made only comparatively small gains of ground. From the area
north of Schweinfurt the enemy advanced across the Fränkische
Saale to Königshofcn. The situation at Schweinfurt itself remained
unchanged. East of Würzburg enemy forces crossed the Main at
Volkach. Our counter-attacks against enemy forces which had
pressed forward to Crailsheim made good progress. Our troops
forced their way into Crailsheim and are now involved in heavy
fighting on the Crailsheim-Mergenthcim road. South of Bretten
the enemy advanced through Mühlacker into Pforzheim.
The Americans made converging attacks on Army Group B
(Ruhr area, Sauerland— Rothaargebirge) concentrating on the
northern edge of the Ruhr, the Sieg front and the Rothaargebirge. In
the Ruhr the enemy reached the northern outskirts of Oberhausen
and also Castrop-Rauxel. He also gained some ground towards
Dortmund. He reached the Unna-Soest railway on either side of
Werl but here he was held by counter-attack. Enemy forces in
action at Hitdorf and between Düsseldorf and Köln were annihi-
9 APRIL 1945 327
lated in counter-attacks. The enemy made only small gains of

ground on the Sieg front and in the Rothaargebirge; in many places
he was held and driven back by counter-attack. It is reported,
however, that the ammunition situation is becoming difficult on the
German side.
No action reported from the Italian front.
In the East enemy air activity was particularly heavy in the
Vienna and Königsberg areac. A total of 1 8 Soviet aircraft were shot
down. Over Reich territory some 1200 American four-engined
bombers attacked industrial and transport targets in northern, cen-
tral and southern Germany. Of these 350 operated over central and
north-west Germany and another 350 over south and south-west
Germany. Attacks were made on Schleiz, Sondershausen, Stad-
troda, the Hannover-Hildesheim area, Plauen, Halberstadt, Sten-
dal, Hof, Eger and certain airfields. Some bombs were dropped in
the areas of Burg, Thale im Harz and Rathenow. Heavy enemy
fighter activity was concentrated on the Nordhausen—Gera area.
Some 500 American four-engined bombers from Italy attacked
transport targets in the Innsbruck-Bolzano area. A smaller Soviet
formation raided Brunn. Our fighters were not in action. Anti-
aircraft shot down two enemy.
During the night there was much enemy long-distance night
fighter activity with machine-gunning of transport targets over the
whole Reich. Two strong British four-engined formations with
Mosquito path-finders raided Hamburg, Lützkendorf and the
Bcrnburg area. Mosquito raids were made on Lübeck,
Travemünde, Dessau, Berlin and Munich. According to reports so
far 20 enemy aircraft were shot down during the night.
ANNEXES
I Adolf Hitler's Proclamation to the people of Berlin on 22 April /p^j
(published in the first issue of the tabloid newspaper Der Pan-

zerbär on 23 April 1945)
Grave Warning from the Führer

Mark well!
Anyone who proposes or even approves measures detrimental to

our power of resistance is a traitor! He is to be shot or hanged
immediately! This applies even if such measures have allegedly been
ordered on the instructions of Reich Minister Dr Goebbels, the
Gauleiter, or even in the name of the Führer.
Führer's Headquarters, 22/4/1945
Signed: Adolf Hitler
Letter from Dr Joseph Goebbels to Harald Quandt, 28 April ig^
Begun in the Führer's bunker 28 April 45
My dear Harald,
We are now confined to the Führer's bunker in the Reich Chan-
cellery and are fighting for our Uves and our honour. God alone
knows what the outcome of this battle will be. I know, however,
that we shall only come out of it, dead or alive, with honour and
glory. I hardly think that we shall see each other again. Probably,
therefore, these are the last lines you will ever receive from me. I
expect from you that, should you survive this war, you will do
nothing but honour your mother and mc. It is not essential that we
remain aUvc in order to continue to influence our people. You may
well be the only one able to continue our family tradition. Always
330 ANNEXES
act in such a way that we need not be ashamed of it. Germany will
survive this fearful war but only if examples are set to our people
enabling them to stand on their feet again. We wish to set such an
example. You may be proud of having such a mother as yours.
Yesterday the Führer gave her the Golden Party Badge which he has
worn on his tunic for years and she deserved it. You should have
only one duty in future: to show yourself worthy of the supreme
sacrifice which we are ready and determined to make. I know that
you will do it. Do not let yourself be disconcerted by the worldwide
clamour which will now begin. One day the lies will crumble away
of themselves and truth wiU triumph once more. That wiU be the
moment when we shall tower over all, clean and spotless, as we
have always striven to be and believed ourselves to be.
Farewell, my dear Harald. Whether we shall ever see each other
again is in the lap of the gods. If we do not, may you always be
proud of having belonged to a family which, even in misfortune,
remained loyal to the very end to the Führer and his pure sacred
cause.
All good things to you and my most heartfelt greetings
Your Papa
3 Letter from Magda Goebbels to Harald Quandt, 28 April 1945
Written in the Führer's Bunker 28 April 1945
My beloved Son,
We have now been here, in the Führer's bunker, for 6 days - Papa,
your six little brothers and sisters and I — in order to bring our
National-Socialist existence to the only possible and honourable
conclusion. I do not know whether you will receive this letter.
Perhaps there is still one human soul who will make it possible for
me to send you my last greetings. You should know that I have
remained here against Papa's will, that only last Sunday the Führer
wanted to help me to escape from here. You know your mother -
we are of the same blood, so I did not have to reflect for a moment.
Our splendid concept is perishing and with it goes everything
beautiful, admirable, noble and good that I have known in my life.
The world which will succeed the Führer and National-Socialism is
not worth living in and for this reason I have brought the children
here too. They are too good for the life that wiU come after us and a
gracious God will understand me if I myself give them release from
it. You will go on living and I have one single request to make of
ANNEXES 331
you: never forget that you are a German, never do anything dis-
honourable and ensure that by your hfe our death is not in vain.
The children are wonderful. They make do in these very primi-
tive conditions without any help. No matter whether they sleep on
the floor, whether they can wash or not, whether they have any-
thing to cat and so forth — never a word of complaint or a tear.
Shell-bursts are shaking the bunker. The grown-ups protect the
Httle ones, whose presence here is to this extent a blessing that from
time to time they can get a smile from the Führer.
Yesterday evening the Führer took off his Golden Party Badge
and pinned it on me. I am happy and proud. God grant that I retain
the strength to do the last and most difficult thing. We have only
one aim in hfe now - to remain loyal to the Führer unto death; that
we should be able to end our hfe together with him is a gift of fate
for which we would never have dared hope.
Harald, my dear - I give you the best that life has taught me: be
true - true to yourself, true to mankind, true to your country - in
every respect whatsoever.
{New Sheet)
It hard to start a fresh sheet. Who knows whether I shall
is
complete it but I wanted to give you so much love, so much

strength and take from you all sorrow at our loss. Be proud of us
and try to remember us with pride and pleasure. Everyone must die
one day and is it not better to live a fine, honourable, brave but short
life than drag out a long life of humiliation?
The letter must go - Hanna Reitsch is taking it. She is flying out
once more. I embrace you with my warmest, most heartfelt and
most maternal love.
My beloved son
Live for Germany!
Your Mother
4 Appendix by DrJoseph Goebbels to Adolf Hitler's Will and Testament,

29 April ig4S
[In his testament Hitler nominated Goebbels as Chancellor

under Dönitz as Head of State]
The Führer has ordered me to leave Berlin, should the defence of

the capital collapse, and act as a leading member of a government
nominated by him.
332 ANNEXES
For the first time in my life I must categorically refuse to comply

with an order from the Führer. My wife and children are at one with
me in this refusal. Quite apart from the fact that emotionally and for
reasons of personal loyalty we could never bring ourselves to desert
the Führer in this his direst moment, were I to do otherwise, for the
rest of my hfe I should consider myself an infamous renegade and
common blackguard; I should lose my self-respect and the respect
of his people which must be the precondition of any further service
by me to the future shaping of the German nation and German
Reich.
In the frenzy of betrayal in which the Führer is enveloped during
these critical days of the war there must be at least some to stand by
him unconditionally and unto death even if this entails con-
travening a formal order, however objectively reasonable, as set
forth in his poUtical testament.
I think that I am thereby rendering the best service to the future of
theGerman people, for in the hard times to come examples are
more important than men. Men will always be found to point the
way to freedom for the nation. Reconstitution of our national
Germanic existence, however, would not be possible were it not
modelled on clear examples comprehensible to everyone. For these
reasons I with my wife and in the name of my children, who are too
young to make a statement themselves but who, if they were old
enough, would adhere to my decision unreservedly, hereby declare
my irrevocable decision not to leave the Reich capital, even should it
fall; we prefer to bring to an end at the side of the Führer a life which
for me personally has no further value unless I can use it in the

service of the Führer and at his side.
Given in Berlin, 2g April 1945, 5.30

Dr Goebbels.
5 Official German Announcement of Hitler's Death, 1 May 1945
(Broadcast)
It is reported from the Führer's Headquarters that this afternoon
our Führer Adolf Hitler fell in his command post in the Reich
Chancellery, fighting with his last breath for Germany against
bolshevism. On 30 April the Führer had nominated Grand Admiral
Dönitz as his successor.
1
CHRONOLOGY
1945
January
I German advance from Komorn to relieve Budapest

7 Second German advance from Lake Balaton to relieve Buda-
pest
1 Armistice in Greece
12 The Soviet ist Ukrainian Front (Koniev) advances from the
Baranov bridgehead and breaks through the German defences
13 The Soviet 3rd White Russian Front (Chernakovsky) goes
over to the offensive at Pillkallen, East Prussia
14 The Soviet ist White Russian Front (Zhukov) breaks through
the German defences in Poland; the Soviet 2nd White Russian
Front (Rokossovsky) takes the offensive from the Narev
bridgehead towards Elbing
15 Further Soviet offensive directed on Cracow
17 Soviet units capture Czestochowa; the Germans evacuate
Warsaw
18 Cracow evacuated by the Germans; beginning of break-
through by 2nd Soviet White Russian Front (Rokossovsky);
third German attempt to relieve Budapest from Lake Balaton
19 Soviet ist White Russian Front (Zhukov) captures Lodz
21 Soviet ist Ukrainian Front (Koniev) crosses into Silesia
22 Soviet troops capture Insterburg and Allenstein
23 Start of evacuation by sea of East Prussia and the Bay of Danzig
24 German withdrawal in Slovakia; Soviet ist Ukrainian Front
(Koniev) captures Oppeln and Gleiwitz; Himmler becomes
Commander-in-Chief of Army Group Vistula; Soviet attacks
at Libau (Courland) driven off
26 Soviet troops cut land communications with East Prussia;
Soviets capture Kattowitz
334 CHRONOLOGY
27 Germans evacuate the Upper Silesian industrial zone

28 Soviet troops form bridgehead at Kiistrin
February
2 Ecuador declares war on Germany

3 American air-raid on Berlin
4 Start of Yalta conference between Stalin, Roosevelt and
Churchill
7 Garrison of Thorn fights its way back to the German lines
8 Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front (Koniev) advances from Steinau
and Leubus on Oder; ist Canadian Army (Crerar) launches an
offensive from the Nijmegen area; Paraguay declares war on
Germany
10 Advance of Soviet 2nd White Russian Front (Rokossovsky)
halted in Pomerania; garrison of Elbing fights its way back to
the German lines; captured by Soviet troops;
Liegnitz
remnants of German-Hungarian garrison of Budapest sur-
render
12 End of Yalta Conference: co-ordination of military operations,
division of Germany into zones of occupation, formation of an
Allied Control Council, settlement on conference for for-
mation of United Nations, agreement on a PoUsh government
and the Polish-Soviet western frontier; Peru declares war on
Germany
13 Anglo-American air attack on Dresden (repeated on 14 Feb-
ruary) - devastation of Inner City — number of casualties'
officially estimated at 60,000
15 Breslau encircled; Uruguay declares war on Germany
16 Start of German counter-offensive at Stargard in Pomerania
(cancelled on 18 February); Venezuela declares war on Ger-
many
19 German troops in East Prussia re-establish land com-
munications between Pillau and Königsberg; Himmler gains
contact with Count Folke Bemadotte, President of the Inter-
national Red Cross, in order to fmd out -possibiHties for a
separate peace with the Western Powers
23 Soviet troops capture Posen; American 9th Army (Simpson)
launches an offensive from its bridgeheads on the Roer,
Turkey declares war on Germany
24 Soviet break-through in Pomerania; Egypt declares war on
Germany
27 King Michael I of Rumania forced to appoint a communist
government in Bucharest under Petru Groza
CHRONOLOGY 335
March
I Start of German counter-attack in Lower Silesia leading to
recapture of Lauban and Striegau
3 American 3rd Army (Patton) occupies Trier; Canadian troops
capture Xanten
5 Graudenz surrenders
6 Start of German offensive at Lake Balaton in Hungary
7 American ist Army (Hodges) captures Köln and pushes across
the Rhine at Remagen
8 Start of secret negotiations in Switzerland between rep-
resentatives of the Allied High Command and the German
forces in Italy with a view to German surrender
9 Heavy American air-raid on Tokyo
ID Field Marshal Kesselring takes over command in the West
from Field Marshal von Rundstedt; German troops evacuate
Wesel
13 Start of Soviet offensive in the area of Heiligenbeil, East
Prussia. Land communications to Königsberg severed
15 The Soviet ist Ukrainian Front (Koniev) launches offensive
in the area of Ratibor, Upper Silesia; German advance in
Hungary halted
16 Soviet 2nd Ukrainian Front and 3rd Ukrainian Front
(Tolbukhin) go over to the counter-offensive in Hungary
17 American 3rd Army (Patton) captures Koblenz
18 Kolberg captured by Soviet troops; start of Soviet offensive in
Courland
19 Hitler issues "scorched earth" order calHng for destruction of
all industrial and supply installations in the Reich
20 Start of offensive by Tito's partisans in Dalmatia

22 American 3rd Army (Patton) crosses the Rhine at Oppenheim
and advances east; German troops evacuate the last bridge-
heads over the Drava at Siklos
23 Soviet troops break through German defence positions at
Gotenhafen (Gdynia) and Danzig; British, American and
Canadian troops advance across the Rhine from Venlo and
occupy Wesel
25 American troops reach Germersheim, Ludwigshafen and
Worms
26 American ist Army (Hodges) drives through the Westerwald;
American 3rd Army (Patton) occupies Darmstadt and reaches
the Main
27 The Argentine declares war on Germany
336 CHRONOLOGY
28 Gotenhafen (Gdynia) captured by Soviet troops; Colonel-

General Guderian "sent on leave" by Hitler; General Krebs
takes over the affairs of the Army General Staff
29 German troops withdraw on to the Frische Nehrung;
American troops occupy Frankfurt am Main
30 Danzig captured by Soviet troops; British troops occupy
Emmerich and Bocholt
April
1 Startof evacuation of Hela Peninsula by German naval forces;

American ist Army (Hodges) Hnks up with American 9th
Army (Simpson) in the Lippstadt area; main body of German
Army Group B (Model) encircled in the Ruhr; French ist
Army (de Lattre de Tassigny) crosses the Rhine at Philipps-
burg
2 Soviet troops occupy the Hungarian oilfield of Nagy Kanisza
3 Münster occupied by Anglo-American troops
4 Soviet troops occupy Bratislava, Slovakia; last German troops
withdraw from Hungary
5 Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front (Tolbukhin) opens assault on
Vierma. Last use of V2s in the West
6 Soviet 3rd White Russian Front (Vassilevsky) advances to the
Frisches Haff; American 9th Army (Simpson) captures Hamm;
Tito's partisans occupy Sarajevo
9 Garrison of Königsberg surrenders; start of major Anglo-
American offensive in Upper Italy
10 American 9th Army (Simpson) occupies Essen and Hannover;
the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer sunk in Kiel by British
bombers
12 President Roosevelt dies following a stroke; succeeded by
Harry S. Truman
13 Vienna captured by Soviet troops
14 American attacks split up German forces in the Ruhr area
15 Destruction of a Soviet bridgehead at Magdeburg; start of
Soviet offensive against industrial area of Mährisch-Ostrau; St
Polten occupied by Soviet troops
16 Soviet ist Ukrainian Front (Koniev) and ist White Russian
Front (Zhukor) launch assault on BerUn from the Neisse and
Oder bridgeheads; German troops in the eastern Ruhr pocket
cease resistance; British bombers sink the heavy cruiser Liitzow
in Swinemünde
17 Remainder of German forces in the Ruhr area surrender -
325,000 prisoners
8
CHRONOLOGY 337
1 American troops capture Magdeburg and occupy Düsseldorf;

American 3rd Army (Patton) advances into West Bohemia;
last British air-raid on BerUn
19 Americans occupy Leipzig

20 Soviet 2nd White Russian Front (Rokossovsky) begins con-
quest of western Pomerania and Mecklenburg; Soviet artillery
opens bombardment of BerHn
21 Soviet troops occupy Bautzen and Cottbus
22 French ist Army (de Lattre dc Tassigny) occupies Stuttgart
23 British troops move forward to Hamburg-Harburg; French
troops occupy Mülheim, Bad?n; Hitler dismisses Goring from
all his offices
24 German troops at Frankfurt on Oder surrounded; other Ger-
man formations break through at Beehtz and withdraw across
the Elbe. American and French troops occupy Ulm; in Italy the
British capture Ferraraand the Americans La Spezia; through
Count Bernadotte Lübeck Himmler makes an offer of
in
Sjurrender to the Western Powers
25 Encirclement of Berhn complete; Pillau (East Prussia) captured
by Soviet troops; American and Soviet troops meet at Torgau
on the Elbe; in Upper Italy American and British troops cross
the Po and occupy Mantua, Reggio and Parma; opening of San
Francisco Conference to discuss "Charter of the United
Nations"
26 Soviet troops occupy Brunn and Stettin; American troops
occupy Bremen
27 Provisional Austrian government under Karl Renner formed
in Vienna; French units occupy VentimigHa and Bordighera on
the Franco-Itahan frontier; American troops occupy Genoa
28 German attempt by Wenck to relieve Berlin called off; Ameri-
cans capture Augsburg; Mussolini and some of his entourage
taken prisoner by Italian partisans at Dongo on the Swiss
frontier and shot next day
29 The German army (von Vietinghoff) surrenders to
in Italy
Allied forces (Alexander);French troops occupy Fried-
richshafen on Lake Constance; Hitler marries Eva Braun, signs
his "political" and personal testament and nominates Dönitz as
Reich President and Goebbels as Reich Chancellor
30 Hitler commits suicide in the bunker of the Reich Chancellery;
Americans occupy Munich and Turin; Tito's partisans move
by German U-boats since January reach
into Trieste; sinkings
90,000 GRT
1
338 CHRONOLOGY
May
1 Grand Admiral Dönitz takes over as Head of State in accor-
dance with Hitler's will; Qoebbels and his wife commit suicide
after killing their six children; Tito's partisans occupy the
greater part of the territory of Trieste, Gorizia and Istria
2 The remnants of the garrison of Berlin surrender; the Soviets
occupy Rostock; British and Soviet troops meet at Wismar
3 British troops move into Hamburg and the Americans into
Innsbruck
4 German forces in Holland, North-west Germany and Den-
mark capitulate to Field-Marshal Montgomery
5 Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, nominated Foreign Minister by
Dönitz, forms an acting Reich Government in Flensburg: ris^
ing by Czech resistance groups in Prague
6 Opening of major Soviet offensive against remnants of Ger-
man Army Group Centre (Schörner) in Bohemia; Americans
capture Pilsen and halt their advance; Breslau surrenders
7 Americans evacuate their bridgeheads over the Elbe; British
troops occupy Wilhelmshaven, Cuxhaven and Emden;
Colonel-General Jodl signs general surrender of the
Wehrmacht in Reims
8 Soviet troops occupy Dresden
9 FieldMarshal Keitel repeats signature of general capitulation in
the Soviet headquarters at Karlshorst near Berlin
10 Soviet forces occupy Prague
1 Czechoslovak cabinet-in-exile returns to Prague from London
14 Heligoland occupied by British troops
23 Arrest of the Dönitz government and members of the High
Command of the German Armed Forces in Flensburg;
Himmler commits suicide; Dutch cabinet-in-exile meets in
The Hague
3 I American Military Government orders dissolution of the Nazi
Party by law.
June
5 The Allied Commanders-in-Chief (Zhukov, Eisenhower,

Montgomery and de Lattre de Tassigny) issue declaration in
Berlin announcing assumption of governmental authority in
Germany by the Control Council formed of the MiHtary
Governors
9 Agreement concluded between Yugoslavia, the USA and
CHRONOLOGY 339
Great Britain on temporary military administration in the

Italian province of Venezia Giulia; Yugoslav units evacuate
Trieste and Pola
10 Political parties allowed again in the Soviet-occupied zone of
Germany
26 San Francisco Conference concluded with signature of United
Nations Charter; Polish government announces "re-
settlement" of Germans from territories east of the Oder—
Neisse line
28 Formation of communist Government of National Unity in
Warsaw
July
1 Start of evacuation of Soviet zone of occupation by American

and British troops; the Soviets accordingly occupy parts of
Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Mecklenburg; Ameri-
can and British units move into the western sectors of Berlin
7 The Allies sign an agreement for four-power administration of
Berlin; Saar Territory placed under French administration
II First meeting of the AUied Commandants in Berlin
17 Start of Potsdam Conference between Truman, Stalin and
Churchill (later Attlee)
August
2 End of Potsdam Conference; results: formation of Control

Council, agreement on reparations and dismantHng, transfer of
German eastern territories as far as Oder-Neisse line to Poland
for "administration"; final peace treaty with Germany post-
poned until formation of a central government.
GAZETTEER
The outline map on pages xliv-xlv locates only the major sites
mentioned in the military situation reports on the war in the
air. The Hst below has been prepared for readers who wish to
followthe movements of the land battle in closer detail on
modern maps. The forms used by Goebbels, which have been
followed in the text, are Hsted in alphabetical order together
with their 1977 equivalents.
Altdamm
342 GAZETTEER
Graudenz Grudziadz
Greifenhangen Gryfmo
Grottkau Grodköw
Heiderode Czersk
Heiligenbeil Mamonovo
Hirschberg Jelenia Göra
Jägerndorf Krnov
KaUies Kalisz Pomorski
Katscher Kietrz
Kolberg Kotobrzcg
Komom Komärno
Königsberg Kaliningrad
Konitz Chojnice
Kreuzenort Krzyzanowice
Labes Lobez
Latzig Laski
Laub an Luban
Lcobschütz Glubczyce
Labiau Pölessk
Libau Liep äja
Lichtenfeld Lelkowo
Löwenberg Lwöwck ^laski
Mährisch-Ostrau Moravskä Ostrava
Mewc Gnicw
Mitau Jelgava
Neuhäusel Nove Zamky
Neukrug Nowa Karczma
Neusiedlersee (lake) Fertö
Neusohl Banska Bystrica
Neuteich Nowy Staw
Oüva OHwa
Pawlowitz Pawfowice
Praust Pruszcz Gdanski
Prcekuln Priekule
Plathe Ploty
Polangen Palanga
Pölitz Police
Pollnow Polanow
Putzig Puck
Pyritz Pyrzyce
Raab (river) Räba
Ratibor Racibörz
Reetz Recz
Regenwalde Resko
Rügenwalde Dartowo
Schemnitz Banska Stiavnica
Schlawe Sl'awno
GAZETTEER
Place Index
Aachen 13, 67, 86, 258, 269, 279, 280, Aschaffenburg 228, 231, 232, 239, 256,
312 273, 284, 293, 302
Aba 119, 179 Audorf 273
Adenau 66, 93 Augsburg 5, 19
Adria 66 Austria 282, 288, 299, 306, 314
Agidienburg 148 Avranches 246
Ahlen 291
Ahr 112
Ahrweiler 85, 93 Bad Dievenow 65
Alfeld 326 Bad Dürkheim 202
Alken 140, 157 Bad Godesberg 76, 85
Alkett 308 Bad Homburg 86, 89
Almelo 326 Bad Honnef 112, 120, 127, 131, 148,
Alsfeld 284 157, 179
Altdamm 74, 84, 91, 162, 178 Bad Horst 84
Alten 148 Bad Kreuznach 157, 163, 169, 179, 187
Altenburg 188 Bad Mergentheim 302
Altenkirchen 239 Bad Nauheim 256
Altrip 273 Bad Orb 293
Altsohl 4, 13, 28, 37, 47, 54, 65, 84, 92, Bad Polzin 36, 54
III, 119, 130, 139, 186, 208 Bad Sooden 326
Alzenau 256, 264 Bad Wildungen 179, 273, 284
Alzey 179, 187 Baden 319
Amorbach 284 Bahn 28, 36
Amstetten 157, 188 Bakony-Wald 186, 201, 208, 225, 230
Angriff 3 IG Balkans 58
Anholt 264 Baltic States 38, 96
Ankara 210, 220, 242 Bamberg xvii
Annweiler 202 Bannida 208
Apulia 220 Baranov 8, 42, 50, 309
Ardennes xxix, 58, I27n Bassum 326
Argentinia 260 Bauerwitz 208, 216
Arnhem 176, 219, 298 Baumholder 169, 179
Arnsberg 179 Bautzen 79
Amstein 256 Bavaria xl, 202, 270
Arnswalde 13, 19, 27, 28, 36 Bayreuth 17
Arolsen 273, 284 Belga 255
1
346 PLACE INDEX
Belgard 36, 47, 52, 54, 65 Bolzano 327

Belgium 31, 49, 59, 124, 160, 274 Bonn 29, 55, 66, 73, 76, 85, 93, 121
Berent 66, 92 Boppard 140, 148, 231, 239
Bergzabern 217 Borken 264, 273, 284
Bcrhn xvi, xviii, xix, xx, xxi, xxiii, Börsten 239
xxiv, xxvii, xxviii, xxxi, xxxii, xxx- Brandenburg 17, 174, 293, 296
viii, 3, 6, II, 14, 19, 21, 24, 26, 30, Braubach 231, 239
32. 35, 37, 39, 40, 41, 43. 4». 5i, 53, Braunsberg 169, 179, 187
56, 62, 67, 70, 72, 73, 77, 78, 79, 82, Bremen 48, 86, 112, 188, 202, 209, 218,
83, 86, 87, 90, 93, gs-9 passim, 103, 221, 256, 260, 285, 288, 316, 323,
106, 112, 113, 117, 120, 123, 125-8 324, 326
passim, 131, 1 2 4-S passim, 140, 142, Brenner 225
143, 146, 148, 149, 151, 152, 155, Breslau 4, 11,13, 14. 19. 28, 35, 36, 40,
158, 161, 163, 165, 166, 167, 170, 47, 52, 56, 63, 65, 74, 80, 84, 92, 93.
173, 174. 177, 180, 184, 185, 188, 97, III, 119, 125, 138, 140, 145, 147,
192, 200, 203, 207, 210, 215, 218, 156, 162, 168, 176, 178, 182, 186,
220, 221, 222, 227, 235, 236, 240, 201, 208, 216, 225, 233, 238, 240,
241, 245, 253, 256, 260, 265, 267-71 251, 263, 271, 272, 283, 292, 299,
passim, 285, 290, 295, 299, 303, 308, 302, 323, 324. 325
310, 314, 315. 316, 317, 321, 324, Bretten 326
327, 333 (Wedding) 166, (Nieders- Briescn 92, 216
chönau) 166, (Spandau, Steglitz, Bricg 147
Wilmersdorf Zehlendorf) 170, Brilon 273, 282, 284
(Langwitz, Mariendorf, Marien- Britain see England
felde) 221, (Mariendorf, Marien- Bromberg 182
feldc, Steglitz, Tempelhof) 225, Bruchsal 303
(Maricnfelde, Siemensstadt) 260, Brück an der Mur 120, 180, 202, 301
(Rahnsdorf) 315, 317,323, (Tier- Brühl 55, 75
garten) 236 Brünen 255
Bernau 218 Brunn 327
Bernkastei 131, 1 40 Brunswick 37, 56, 293, 323
Betzdorf 264 Bubhtz 4, 20, 28, 36
Bemburg 327 Bucharest 8, 191
Biedenkopf 273 Buchen 284
Bielefeld 37, 256, 302 Bückeburg 316, 326
Bielitz 130, 147, 156, 263 Budapest 201
Bingen 157, 166, 170, 187, 202, 217, Bud weis 225
224 Buer 284
Birgel 66 Bulgaria 100, in, 172
Bitburg 5, II, 14, 20, 37, 55, 66 Bunzlau 65, 292
Bitsch 148, 154, 157, 169 Bütow 20, 36, 47, 55, 66, 85, 92
Bitterfeld 163 Butzbach 264
Blatzheim 5
Bochol 23
Bocholt 218, 224, 264, 273, 284
Bochum 86, 120, 170, 179, 209, 225 Cairo 23n
Bockenem 326 Calabria 220
Bohemia and Moravia (Protectorate) Cammin 128, 145, 54, 65
295, 306 Canada 37, 93, 100, 218, 264, 283,
Bohlen 29, 1 88 326
Bologna 14 Caputh xl
PLACE INDEX 347
Castrop-Rauxel 5, 231, 326 Drachenfels 157

Chemnitz 29, 33, 37, 53, 56, 63, 70. 78, Dramburg 36, 54
124 Drava 65, 74, 162, 179, 283, 292, 301,
Cochem 66 325
Coesfeld 273, 284 Dresden 29, 33, 45, 53, 62, 63, 64, 79,
Cologne see Köln 90, 113, 183, 200, 241, 266, 278, 289
Cosel 119, 156, i68, 178 Duisburg 47, 55, 162, 209, 225, 231
Cottbus 83, 299 Dülken 20
Courland 4, 13, 29, 47, 55, 56, 64, 66, Dülmen 273, 284
74, 93, III, 119, 125, 130, 139, 148, Düren 5, 14, 20, 37
156, 162, 167, 168, 169, 179, i8s, Düsseldorf 20, 37, 47, 55, 120, 209, 326
187, 201, 209, 217, 225, 230, 238,
255, 264, 271, 272, 283, 292, 302
Crailsheim 320, 326 East Prussia 4, 13, 14, 19, 20, 29, 36, 47,
Croatia xxx, 61-2, 108, 235 52, 55, 64, 66, 69, 74, 78, 85, 91, 93.
Csorna 263 Ill, 119, 125, 130, 136, 138, 139,
Czechoslovakia 4, 13, 28, 37, 47, 54,65, 145, 154, 156, 162, 165, 167, 168,
74, 84, 89, 92, 97, III, 119, 130, 139, 169, 176, 178, 185, 186-7, 206, 216,
160, 162, 173, 186, 201, 208, 216, 220, 221, 225, 228, 230, 314
225, 230, 263, 272, 292, 301, 306, 325 Eberswalde 218
Ehrang 37, 75
Ehrenfelden 224
Danube 74, 92, 201, 203, 208, 216, 225, Eifel 5, 29, 37, 55, 66, 85, 112, 114
230, 238, 243, 255, 272, 291, 319, Einbeck 326
3M, 325 Eisenach 299, 302
Danzig 74, 85, 91, 97, in, 117, 118, Elbing 74, 85, 139
I2S, 130, 136, 139, 148, 156, 162, Elze 319
168, 169, 176, 178, 179, 186-7, 201, Emden 37
206, 208, 209, 216, 230, 238, 255, Emmerich 112, 118, 239, 284
263, 271, 272, 282, 283, 302, 325 Engers 112, 224
Dardanelles 69, 151, 191, 210, 211, 220, England 6-7, 15-16, 21-2, 30, 37, 38,
242 42, 43, 44, ^6-$o passim, 52, 55-61
Darmstadt 170, 180, 217, 218, 224, 228, passim,66-g passim, 71, 75, 76, 81,
231, 239 S6-9 passim, 94, 95, 99, 100, loi,
Daun 55, 66 105, 108, 109, 112, 1 1 4- 1 J passim,
Denmark 24, 60 120, 121, 122, 124, 127, I3i-3|>ai-
Dessau 75, 78, 89, 124, 327 sim, 140, 141, 142, 148-52 passim,
Deventer 326 155. 157. 158, 159, 164, 165, 167.
Dicvenow 92, in, 119, 147, 302 170-i passim, 175, 177, 179-81 p<3i-
Dill 264 sim, i8j-go passim, 193, 199, 202-5
Dingden 264, 292 passim, 209-14 passim, 217-20 pas-
Dinkelsbühl 316 sim, 224-8passim, zjz-spassim, 240,
Dinslaken 218, 224, 228, 231, 239, 256 241, 242, 246, 247, 255, 257, 258,
Dirschau 92 259, 266, 267, 268, 271, 273, 274,
Dornheim 224 275. 277, 278, 283-8 passim, 293,
Dorog 186, 216 294, 295, 298, 299, 300, 305, 306,
Dorsten 224, 264, 273, 284 307, 311, 320, 321, 323, 324, 327
Dörsthciden 239 Enschede 302
Dortmund 5, 21, 86, 120, 124, 131, 148, Erft 5, 14, 18, 20, 27, 29, 30, 37, 202
170, 179, 326 Erfurt 21, 37, 316
Dortmund-Ems Canal 37, 284 Erkelenz 5
348 PLACE INDEX
Eschwege 302 Gladbeck 264, 273, 284

Espenhain 29, 179, 188, 320 Glogau 140, 147, 156, 162, 178, 185,
Essen 14, 86, 112, 124, 151, 209, 225 186, 201, 208, 225, 240, 282, 283
Euskirchen 37, 48, 55, 63, 66, 75, 85 Goch 5, 13, 29
Goldberg 4, 36, 47, 65
Gollnow 65, 74
Faenca 48 Gondorf 112
Falkenburg 4 Görhtz 4, 13, 28, 34, 36, 54, 65, 79, 80,
Felsögalla 157, 168, 179, 186, 208 82, 84, loi, iio, III, 112, 214
Finland 32, 38, 39, 43, 50, 62, 69, 116, Gotenhafen iii, 130, 136, 138, 139,
122, 133, 172-3, 182, 191, 211, 227, 145, 156, 162, 168, 169, 176, 178,
235, 268 186-7, 201, 208, 209, 216, 225, 230,
Forbach 37, 48, 55, 66 238, 263, 271, 282
Forst 4, 92, 238 Gotha 310, 326
France 31, 49. 58, 59, 93. 96, "4. "5. Göttingen 324, 326
124, 132-3, 134, 151, 164, 172, 204, Gottswalde 238
219, 320-1 Grabow 28
Frankenberg 163, 273 Gran 186, 201, 208, 216, 228, 230, 238,
Frankcnthal 202 255. 263
Frankfurt am Main 86, 93, 115, 120, Granville 93-4
144-5, 236, 239, 256, 257, 264, 304 Graudenz 36, 47
Frankfurt an der Oder 97, iii, 119, Graz 30, 56, 93, 120,
140, 157, 202, 210,
125, 130, 139, 178, 201 285, 288, 293, 295, 301, 303
Fränkische Saale 326 Grebenrodt 256
Frauenburg 47, 55, 66, 75, 93, 11 1, 119, Greifenberg 47, 65, 84, 85, 92, iii, 156
139, 162, 179, 187, 201, 217, 264, 272 Greifenhagen 36, 84, 147
Fredersdorf 240 Grevenbroich 14, 18, 29, 37
Freis'tadt 283 Griesheim 224
Freiweinheim 217 Groß-Gerau 217, 224, 231
French Indochina 96, 116 Groß-Reken 273
Friedberg 120 Groß-Steinheim 239
Friedrichsroda 326 Großwollental 47
Friedrichswalde 65 Grottkau 147, 154, 167, 168
Frisches Haff 187 Grünberg 273
Fulda 235, 271, 273, 284, 292, 293, 302 Guben 4, 13, 36, 54, 65, 84, 92, 102, 238
Fürstenberg 36, 52, 147 Güns 272, 283, 292, 301
Güstrow 320
Gütersloh 37
Gahlen 255 Guttlau 224
Garmisch 225
Geldern 37, 47
Gelnhausen 273, 284, 292
Gelsenkirchen 14, 48, 56, 120, 131, 209,
225, 320 Hade 55
Gemünd 48, 55, 256 Hagen 149, 218
Gera 314, 320, 327 Hagenau 120, 131, 140, 148, 163, 169
German Bight 48, 210 Hague 219
Germersheim 224, 293, 303 Halberstadt 327
Gerolstein 55, 66 Halle 5, 26n, 188, 293, 314
Gießen 86, 140, 170, 179, 264, 271, 273, Haltern 273
284 Hamborn 55, 264
PLACE INDEX 349
Hamburg 75, 86, 89, 112, 117,202, 285, 140, 145, 156, 162, 168, 169, 173,
288, 293, 323. 327 176, 179, 184, 186, 201, 203, 208,
Hamelin 140, 319 216, 224, 228, 230, 238, 245, 252,
Hamm 143, 188, 256, 284, 291, 292, 255, 2S9, 263, 271, 272, 275, 280-3
298-9, 302, 308 passim; 288, 291, 292, 295, 299, 301,
Hamminkeln 239 309. 314
Hanau 170, 174, 180, 231, 236, 239,
256, 264, 273, 284, 293
Hannover 37, 56, 140, 232, 265, 269, Ibbenbüren 302
316, 324, 326, 327 Idar-Oberstein 169
Hannoversch-Münden 273 Innsbruck 2i8, 225, 293, 320, 327
Harburg- Wilhclmsburg 56 Iphofen 319
Harz 316 Italien 14, 48, 66, 67, 69, 93, loi, 115,
Hattingen 225 134, 140, 143, 209, 220
Hausterbruch 256 Iwojima 6
Hcddesheim 264
Heidelberg 273, 284, 293
Heidenbach 55 Jablonka-Paß 119
Heiderode 4, 13, 28, 47, 55, 66, 74, 75 Jägerndorf 272
Heilbronn 303, 316, 320 Jagst 293
Heiligenbeil 169, 178, 187, 201, 208, Jagstheim 320
209, 216, 217, 225, 230, 238 Japan 16, 23, 50, 59, 77, 88, 96, 100,
Helsinki 32, 62 116, 149, 190, 212, 227-235, 260,
Hemmingstedt 75, 188 267, 313. 314. 321, 322
Herbom 264 Jena 163, 179
Hermeskeil 55, 157 Joslau 238, 255
Herne 225 Jugoslavia 60
Hcrsfeld 284, 292 Jühch 5, 29, 37. 67
Hesselbach 256
High Tatra 263
Hildesheim 37, 85, 140, 209, 212, 316, Kahlwies 264
319, 324, 326, 327 Kaiserlautern 157, 163, 184, 187
Hildburghausen 319, 324, 326 Kailies 13, 20
Hirschberg 84 Kamen 256
Hitdorf 326 Kapfenberg 86
Hochstetten 157, 169 Kaposvar 65, 139, 156, 272
Hof 327 Karlsruhe 224, 231, 285, 293, 320
Hohcnlychen 64, 71 Kassel 14, 30, 86, 89, 93, 140, 148, 170,
Höhr-Grenzhausen 239 174, 225, 241, 284, 291, 292, 299, 302
Holstein 323 Katscher 283
Homberg 47, 140 Katyn 206
Hormef H2, 120, 127, 131, 148, 157, Kaub 239, 256
179 Kaulsdorf 240
Hönningen 112, 139, 169 Kempen 29, 37
Hoppegarten 161 Kent 85
Hör 201 Kesselborn 224
Hörstein 256 Keszthely 272
Hungary XXX, 4, 23, 41, 42, 48, 52, 54, Kevelaer 20, 29
64, 65, 72, 74, 84, 89, 90, 92, 93, 97. Kiel 112
101, 102, 104, 108, in, 112, 118, Kilianstetten 264
119, 124, 130, 131, 133, 138, 139, Kirchhain 273
350 PLACE INDEX
Kirchhellen 224, 239, 255, 256 Landau 217

Kirchkapellen 231 Landshut 131, 180
Kirchschlag 283 Langendrecr 202
Kirn 169, 179 Langensalza 326
Kisber 186, 201, 208 Latzig 4
Kitzingen 302, 316 Lauban 4, 13, 28, 40, 47, 52, 54, 64, 72,
Klagenfurt 93, 131, 140, 157, 188, 285, 74, 80, 81, 82, 84, loi, 102, 104, 109,
320 HO
Klingenberg 273, 284 Lauterbach 273 284
,
Koblenz 29, 73, 75, 85, 90, 120, 157, Lauterburg 179, 187, 210
166, 176, 187, 209 Lauterecken 179
Kochern 75, 120, 131, 140, 157 Lebus 4, 54, 65, 84, III, 147
Kolberg 4, 40, 47, 52. 54, 74, 85,
92. 97, Lehrte 326
119, 130, 147, 154, 156, 167, 178 Leipzig 5, 75, 241, 266, 314
Köln 5, 6, 13, 20, 37, 39, 47, 48, 55, 63, Lengerich 302, 319
66, 67, 68, 75, 76, 85, 86, 93, 135, Leobschütz 168, 178, 186, 201, 208,
149, 159, 188, 189, 231, 236, 250, 216, 225, 238, 255, 263
279, 297, 326 Leuna 140
Komoenich 93 Leutesdorf 209
Komorn 168, 201, 225, 230, 238, 255, Leva 230, 238, 255
263, 272 Leverkusen 119
Königsberg 36, 54, 93, 130, 139, 148, Lichtenfeld 130
169, 220, 221, 225, 230, 233, 283, Libau 169, 187
302, 305, 306, 317, 319, 323, 324, Limburg 140, 256, 258
325, 327 Lindau 225
Königsburg 263 Lingen 326
Königshofen 326 Linz 30, 33, 85, 112, 120, 131, 139, 144,
Königswinter 169, 176 148, 157, 159, 163, 170, 176, 179,
Konitz 4 180, 192, 195, 196, 217, 293
Korbach 267, 273 Lippstadt 291
Kornenburg 157 Lohr 256, 264, 302
Köslin 4, 20, 28, 36, 47, 52 London 21, 49, 50, 57, 58, 60, 61, 68,
Krefeld 27, 29, 37, 47, 63 69, 76, 77, 87, 94. 99, "5, 132, 140,
Kreiensen 326 141, 142, 150, 155, i72n, 181, 204,
Krems 303 211, 219, 220, 226, 242, 266, 285,
Kreuzburg 302 287, 303, 311, 313, 320, 322
Kreuzenort 302 Löwenberg 28, 36, 54
Krotzenburg 256 Lübeck 327
Kusel 169, 179 Lüdenhausen 273
Küstrin 28, 62, 65, 74, 84, 91, 92, 93, Lüdinghausen 284
97, III, 119, 122, 125, 130, 139, 154, Ludwigshafen 21, 170, 202, 209, 217,
162, 178, 203, 207, 208, 216, 225, 224
230,238,255,263, 271,272,282,291 Lüneberg 320
Kyll 5, 14, 37, 48, 66, 85 Lützkendorf 140, 327
Kyllburg 55, 75 Lyon 268
Labes 36
Ladenburg 264 Magdeburg 29, 33, 37,78, 112, 120,303
Lage 179 Maginot Line 163
Lahn 120, 256, 264 Mährisch-Ostrau 40, 41, 52, 54, 64, 65,
PLACE INDEX 351
MigdehuTg-contd. Moselsürch 112

80, 103, 118, 119, 130, 139, 147, 154, Moselland(Gau) 134
156, 168, 208, 230, 238, 255, 272, Mühlacker 326
283, 292, 301, 302, 309 Mühldorf 180
Main 29, 112, 131, 148, 169, 188, 217, Mühlhausen (Thuringia) 321, 326
231, 232, 239, 244, 256, 257, 286, Mülheim/Ruhr 202
302, 326 München xvi, xx, 14, 77, 225, 228, 327
Mainfranken (Gau) 256, 286 München-Gladbach 5, 14, 15, 18, 20
Mainz 5, 166, 176, 179, 187, 202, 209, Münster 14,29,37, 56,67,93, 112, 131,
217 140, 143, 149, 163, 169, 179, 188,
Malom Canal 84, 92, 186 202, 209, 217, 218, 232, 256, 273,
Manchuria 50 284, 291,292, 298, 316
Mannersdorf 301 Münstereifel 55, 66
Mannheim 21, 170, 180, 264, 266, 273, Münxcr Wald 264
284, 299 Mur 301
Marburg 21, 86, 120, 179, 264, 271,
273, 284
March 325 Nagy Kanizsa 272, 283, 292, 301
Marczali 179, 186 Nahe 163, 169
Marczal Canal 238 Nastätten 256
Mariabrunn 325 Naugard 36, 54
Marienburg 74, 85, 92 Neckar 273, 284, 293, 299, 302
Mauer 325 Ncckargemünd 293
Mechelen 264 Neckarsteinach 273, 284
Mecklenburg 71, I23n, 261, 323 Neiße 13, 28, 36, 92, iii, 119, 147, 156,
Meiningen 291, 302 162, 168, 178, 186, 201, 216, 225,
Meisenheim 179 230, 238, 255, 263, 283, 302
Melsungen 302 Netherlands 124, 141, 256, 273, 284,
Mergentheim 320, 326 298, 308, 316, 324, 326
Meppel 326 Neuburg an der Donau 225
Merseburg 26n Neuenahr 66, 75
Merzig 176 Neuhäusel 255, 263, 272
Mcuse 37 Neukrug 74
Michelstadt 273 Neumünster 320
Michendorf xl Neunkirchen 301
Miehlcn 256 Neusiedlersec 292, 301
Millingen 255 Neusohl 162, 186, 201, 208, 216, 225,
Miltenberg 284 238, 263
Minden 265, 316, 326 Neuss 20, 27, 29, 39, 47, 78
Mitau 169, 187, 217, 272 Neustadt (Silesia) 168, 208
Moers 29, 47 Neustadt an der Weinstr. 163, 202
Moosbierbaum 21, 148, 157 Neustadt (West Prussia) 119
Mor 168 Neustadt bei Wunstorf 326
Mosbach 293 Neustettin 4, 13, 19, 20, 28
Moscow XXX, 58, 59, 60, 77, 88, 122, Neuteich 92
133, 137. 145. 173. 191. 211, 242, Neutra 272, 283, 292
274, 27Ö, 288, 295-8, passim, 314, Neuwied 29, 112, 202, 217, 224
322 New York 114, 150, 158, 322
Moselle 29, 73, 85, 102, 105, 106, 112, Newc 36
120, 131, 139-40, 143. 145. 148, 151, Nidda 273
154. 157. 158, 163, 165, 166, 169, 176 Niederbreisig 85, 112
PLACE INDEX
352
Nicderbrohl 112 Papa 230, 238

Nienburg 37. 188, 326 Paris 320-1
Nienburg an der Weser 218 Passau 180
Nienhagen 37 Pawlowitz 147, 156
Nicrs 29 Peine 37
Nierstein Pellingen 14
Nijmcgen 111-12, 298 Pfälzer Wald 209, 217
Nikolas 47, 84, 92 Pforzheim 324, 326
Nogat 92 Phihppinen 212, 220
Nordhauscn 327 Pillau 238, 255, 264
Nordhom 302 Pilsen 56
Norway 60, 88n, 89, 160, 240, 323 Pirmasens 209

Nürburgring 85, 93 Plathe 47
Nuremberg xxv, 14, 17, 56, I57. 163. Plauen 37, 56, 163. 179, 202, 240, 243,
170, 266, 302, 319 327
Pöhlberg 323
Poland XXX, 7, 1 5, 21 22, 24, 30, 3 L 43.
,
60, 69, 88, 108, 116, 122, 142, 151,

Obenheim 202
165, I72n, 205, 211, 233, 235, 268,
Oberbach 273 284 ,
274. 288, 294, 295, 313. 322
Oberhausen 320, 326 Polangen 5
Oberkassel 37. i79. 187, 201 Pölitz 84, 230, 238, 255, 263
Oberlahnstein 231, 239 Pollnow 4
Oberpleis 187 Pomerania 5, 11, 13, 17, I9. 27, 28, 31,
Obersalzberg xxxii, 2, 197
32, 34, 36, 37, 38, 40, 47, 48, 50, 52.
Oberwesel 239
54, 56, 62, 64, 65, 71, 72. 74, 75. 78.
Odenburg 283, 292 80, 84, 99. 103, 117, 127, 136, 137.
Odenwald 284, 293 138, 145, 161, 162, 185, 276, 281
Oder 4, im, 13, 28,34, 36, 37,40.47, Poretta 56
54,65,74,78.92, 119. 130, 147, 173. Poznan 17
185, 186, 207, 225, 236, 245, 272, Prague 266, 295
283, 302, 313, 319 Praust 225, 238
Oderberg 147 Preekuln 36, 47, 55
Offenbach 239 Pregel river 319
Okinawa 298 Pressburg 283, 292, 301
Oldenburg 209 Prüm 14, 19, 29, 37, 48, 55. 66
Oüva 209, 225, 230 Putzig 119, 139
Oppau 202 Pyritz 4, 13, 28, 36, 47
Oppeln 36, 54, 65, 178, 302
Oppenheim 217, 224
Oranienburg 143 Raab 201, 238, 255, 263. 272, 283
Orsoy 55 Racsfeld 264
Osien 65 Rastenburg xxvii
Oslo 184, 192 Rathenow 327
Osnabrück 86, 93, 140, 218, 232, 235 Ratibor 80, 81, 84, 91, 92, 102, 103,
Osten 273 III, 118, 147, 165, 167, 168, 230,
263, 272, 283, 302, 325
Raven 56
Paderborn 210, 256, 282, 284, 292, 302 Raugard 47
Recklinghausen 5, 86, 131, 163, 170,
Palatinate 157
Palestine 133 179, 188, 225, 273. 284
1
PLACE INDEX 353
Rees 224, 231, 239, 264 Ruwer 5, 14, 55, 66, 75, 85, 130, 131,
Reetz 20, 28 140, 145, 148, 157
Regensburg 131 Rybnik 178
Regenwaide 36, 65
Reichenbach 202
Reichshofen 148, 169
Reipertsweiler 48 Saar 14, 72n, 140, 148, 154, 158, 163,
Remagen bridgehead 85, 87, 90, 93, 94, 167, 170, 176, 180, 184, 192, 194,
97, 100, 101-2, 105-6, III, 114, 115, 195. 203, 209, 233, 236, 276, 289
117, 120, 124, 131, 137, 140, 14s, Saarbrücken 120, 140, 148, 154, 157,
163, 164, 165, 166, 169, 180, 184, 187, 202
187, 202, 204, 209. 218, 224, 231, Saarburg 120
239, 247, 289 Saargemünd 120, 140, 148, 163
Rheinbach 66 Saarlautem 120, 163, 179, 187, 202
Rheinberg 55, 66 Sachsenhausen 273
Rheinbrohl 187 Salzburg 6
Rheine 67, 93, 202, 218, 291, 292, 298, Salzgitter 273, 326
302, 326 Samland 36, 169, 209, 220, 230, 302,
Rheinhausen 169 325
Rheins San Francisco 43, 164, 199, 204, 211,
Rheinsfeld 157 235, 242, 258, 274, 285, 287, 288,
Rheydt 5, 14, 15, 18, 20, 49, 94-5, 105, 294, 295. 297, 298, 305, 313, 322
258, 279 St Goar 256
Rhine XXX, 6, 21, 29, 30, 37, 39, 42, 47, St Goarshausen 231, 239
49, $2, SS, 56, 57. 63, 66, 76, 85, 87, St Gotthard 301
90, loi, 105, 106, III, 112, 114, 120, St Polten 303, 316, 324, 325
131, 148, 149, 150, 157, 158. 163, St Valentin 157
167, 169, 170, 179, 184, 187, 188, St Veit 325
189, 195, 201, 203, 204, 209, 211, St Wendel 169, 176, 179, 187
217, 218, 224, 226, 227, 228, 230, Sarvar 263
231, 232, 236, 239, 240, 241, 247, Sassitz70
255, 264, 273, 283-6 passim, 289, Sauerland 302, 320, 326
292, 293, 303 Saxony 53, 163, 324
Rhineland 29, 56, 67, 256, 274 Schapen 319
Rhineland-Westphaha 14, 21, 37, 291 Schemnitz 28, 37, 47, 54, 65, 84, 92, 1 1
Riem 225 Schivelbein 34, 36

Rohland 217 Schlawc 4, 20, 28, 36, 47, 55, 66, 74
Rome 12, 51, 69, loi, 115 Schieiden 55, 66
Rothaargebirge 326, 327 Schleiz 327
Rotterdam 140 Schleusingen 319
Rügen waldc 55 Schlitz 292
Ruhr 14, 56, 112, 115, 131, 140, 175, Schlochau 20
188, 202, 209, 218, 221, 235, 236, Schnee-Eifel 63
276, 284, 298, 304, 308, 3 16, 320, 326 Schollbrücken 224
Rumania 8, 16, 23, 24, 31, 32, 38, 39, Schöneck 66
43, 50, 60, 61, 77, 87, 88, III, 116, Schrau 178
122, 133, 134, 142, 151, 160, 165, Schriesheim 273
172, 191, 203, 268 Schwanenwerden xxi, 254, 317
Rummelsburg 4, 13, 14, 20, 28, 36, 55 Schwarzheide 29, 37, 148, 156, 179,
Russia see Soviet Union 210, 217
Rust 292 Schwarzwasser 4, 36, 92, 97, loi, 102,
354 PLACE INDEX
Schwarzwasser-co«r</. 272, 274, 275, 278, 282, 283, 285,

103, III, 118, 125, 130, 138, 145, 287, 288, 292, 295, 298, 299, 301,
162, 168, 178, 186, 208, 302 302, 312, 313, 314, 319, 321, 322,
Schwedt 54, 64, 65 324-; 325, 327
Schweinfurt 319, 324, 326 Spain 17, 212, 220, 227, 312
Schweinheim 239, 256, 284 Speyer 217, 224, 293
Schwerin 320 Stadthagen 326
Schwetzingen 284 Stadtlohn 284
Sebastopol 22 Stadtroda 327
SeHgenstadt 239 StaHngrad xxi, xxii, xxiii, xxxiii, 145
Semmering 301 Stargard 28, 36, 47, 54, 65, 66, 74, 92
Senftenberg 148 Steinamanger 272, 283, 292, 301
Senio 48 Steinau 91
Serbia 38, 50 Stelitz 168
Sieg 217, 231, 239, 256, 264, 273, 284, Stendal 265, 327
302, 326, 327 Sterkrade 255
Siegburg 202, 209, 265 Stettin 28, 56, 65, 74, 84, 92, 93, 97,
Siegen 86, 140, 170, 179, 209, 284, 302 III, 119, 130, 139, 147, 156, 161,
Siegfried Line 106, 158, 163, 179, 187, 162, 167, 168, 176, 178, 185, 186,
209, 217, 233 263, 272
Siepenitz 65 Stockholm 30, 46, 62, 69, 150, 193, 266,
Silesia 4, 13, 17, 23, 350, 37.41, 52, 81, 288
loi, 130, 160, 167, 168, 176, 178, Stolp 4, 28, 85, 92
186, 208, 216, 228, 263, 271, 276, 282 Strehlen 4, 13, 178, 230, 255
Simmern 157 Striegau 92, 102, in, 119, 139
Sio River 118, 119, 124, 139, 154, 179 Stuhlweißenburg 65, 74, 84, 119,
Siofok 201 156-7, 168, 179, 185, 186, 201, 243
Skagerrak 30 Stuttgart 37, 188
Sobernheim 169, 187 Suhl 316
Soest 291, 299, 302, 320, 326 Sweden 32, 62, 69, 88-9, 133, 150, 193,
Sofia 191, 206 235, 268, 312
Sohrau 225, 230, 238 Swinemünde 120, 124, 136
Sondershausen 327 Switzerland 96, 150, 165, 182, 206, 312
Sonsbeck 20, 29
Soviet Union xxx, 8-10, 16, 19, 24, 28,
29, 31. 32, 34. 36, 38-9. 40, 41. 43. Tambach-Dietharz 326
44, 47, 50, 52, 54-6 passim, 58-66 Tauberbischofsheim 293
passim, 69, 74, 75, 77—85^0551»«, 87, Taunus 256
88, 91, 92, 96, 97, 99, 100, 102-4 Teutoburger Wald 299, 302, 310
passim, 108, ill, 113, 114, 116, 117, Thale 327
119-22 ;><J55(W, 125, 130, 131, 133, Themar 3 19
134. 137, 138. 139. 142, 143. 145. Thüringer Wald 319
147, 148, 150, 151, 154, 155, 156, Thüringia 25, 235, 291, 293, 310, 315,
157. 159. 160, 162, 164, 165, 167, 316, 321, 323, 324
169, 172, 173, 175, 178, 179, 181, Tiegenhof 74, 92
182, 185, 186, 187, 189, 190, 191, Tokyo 50, 77, 96, 212, 220, 235, 313,
193, 194, 195, 199, 201, 203, 205, 321
206, 208-11 passim, 214, 216, 218, Tölz 228, 240
220, 221, 225, 228, 230, 231, 233, Tovaros 186, 201, 208, 216
234, 235, 238, 239, 240, 243, 246, Traben-Trarbach 112, 131
255. 259, 263, 264, 266, 268, 271, Travemünde 327
PLACE INDEX 355
Treis 140, 148, 157 Villach 30, 202, 210, 293

Treptow 84 Vilsen 19
Trier 5, 14, 19, 27, 29, 37, 48, 55, 64, 66, Virovitiszar 65
75, 85, io6, 120, 130, 246, 247, 289 Volkach 326
Tulln 319 Völklingen 140
Turkey 151, 191, 199, 205, 210, 2H,
242, 313
Twistringen 319, 326
Tymau 301 Waag 283, 292
Tyrol 270 Waldbreitbach 157, 169
Walldürn 284
Wallstadt 264
Warthcland 25n
Uffenhcim 316 Washington 61, 76, 99, 115, 116, 150,
Ulm 19
159, 285, 287, 313, 322
Ulrichstein 273
Weichsel 6
Uelzen 320 Weimar 163, 320
United States 21, 22, 30, 31, 37, 38, 42,
Weinheim 264
43, 46, 48, 49, 50, 52, 55-61 ;ja«i>«,
Weisenheim 187
63, 66-S passim, 71, 75, 76, 77, 81, Weiskirchen 148
B$-gpassim, 93, 94-7^0551»«, 99, loi,
Weißenburg 179, 187
105, 106, 108, 109, 112,114-16 pas-
Weißcnfels 320
sim, 120, 121, 122, 124, 127, 130-3
Wels 188
passim, 139-42 passim, 148-51 pas-
Welschbillig 5, 14
sim, 155, 157, 158, 159, iSi-jpassim.
Werl 326
170-i passim, 175, 176, 179-82 pas- Werra 273, 292, 302, 326
sim, 184, 188, 189, 190, 192, 199,
Wertheim 293
201-5 passim, 209, 210, 212, 213,
Wesel 47, 55, 66, 75, 93, 100, 176, 217,
214, 217, 219, 220, 221, 224-S pas-
224, 225, 226, 231, 239, 255, 266,
sim, 222-spassim, 237, 240, 241, 242,
271,273
244, 247, 255, 257-60 passim, 265,
Weser 319
266, 268, 273, 274, 275, 277, 278,
Weser-Ems (Gau) 304
284-7/ja55im, 292-spassim, 297, 298,
West Prussia 72, 91, 102, in, 117, 119,
299, 304, 307. 3", 312. 313. 319-24
139, 162, 185, 216, 225, 228, 230
passim, 326, 327
Westerwald 284
Unna 179, 256, 326
Westphalia 14. 56, 67, 75, 192, 298
Urit 48
Wetzlar 120, 264, 284
Wied Valley 202
Wiener Neustadt 48, 140, 148, 157, 188,
Vacha 292 240, 272, 283, 285, 292, 299, 301
Vatican 46, 259, 274 Wiesbaden 37, 56, 140, 256
Vclencz-Sec 102, 154, 176 Wiesloch 293
Venlo 20, 27, 29, 47 Wilhelmshaven 285, 288
Verden 316, 319, 324 Winterberg 271, 273, 302
Vergato 56 Witten 202
Vertes Mountains 168 Wittlich 5, 55, 66, 93
Veszprem 208, 216 Woilin 54, 74, 84, 92
Vienna 19, 120, 148, 157, 188, 202, 210, Worms 202, 239
217, 240, 285, 295, 299, 301, 308-9, Wuppertal 86, 131, 143
310, 314. 316-17, 319. 322-3. 324, Würzburg 37, 157, 174, 182, 244, 247,
325. 327 256. 293, 302, 319. 324; 326
356 PLACE INDEX
Xanten 29, 37, 47, 55, 66, 85, 97, 224, Zerf 5, 14, 29, 48, 66
231 Ziegenhals 178, 263, 302
Zinten 4, 29, 36, ill, 130, 139
Zittau 196
Zitzewitz 74
Yalta 6n, 7, 16, 21, 22, 31, 38, 60, 69,
Zobten 19, 27, 28, 34, 36, 65
77, 88, 115, 132, 149, 150, 190, 195,
Zons 120
212, 220, 274, 287, 295, 298
Zoppot 91, 139, 154, 209, 216
Zossen 143, 151
Zuckau 85, 92, 139
Zachan 28 Zülpich 14, 29, 37, 48
Zalaegerszeg 272, 283 Zweibrücken 140, 169, 187
Zchdcn 65, 92, 225, 230, 238, 255, 263 Zwickau 179
Zella-Mehlis 316 Zwolle 326
Name Index
Acker, Achille van, Belgian Prime Minister 1945-6 160

Albrecht, Alwin-Broder, personal aide (naval) to Hitler 253
Alvensleben, Ludolf von, Lieutenant-General in Waffen-SS, Higher SS
and Police Leader of Dresden 64
Anfuso, Filipo, Italian Ambassador in Berlin 268
Antoncscu, Ion (1882-1946), Rumanian Marshal, Prime Minister 1940-4,
executed as war criminal 24n, I72n, 191
Antonescu, Mihai, Rumanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minis-
ter 1 94 1 -4, executed 1946 191
Arcnt, Kukuli von, wife of Benno von Arent, the "Reich stage
sculptor" 200
Arziszewski, Tomasz, Prime Minister of Polish government-in-exile in
London 1944-5 21, 172
August Wilhelm, Prince of Prussia (1722-58), brother of Frederick the
Great 183, 196
Badoglio, Pietro (1871-1956), Marshal, ItaUan Prime Minister
1943-4 268, 322
Balzer, Rudolf, Lieutenant-Colonel, OKW Liaison Officer to Ministry of
Propaganda 115, 265, 296
Baruch, Bernard Mannes (1870- 1965), Americal political econom-
ist 160
Baumbach, Manfred, Luftwaffe Colonel 196, 197, 198
Bayerlein, Fritz, Lieutenant-General 308
Benes, Eduard (i 884-1948), President of Czechoslovak government-
in-exile 1940-5, President of Czechoslovakia 1945-8, resigned
1948 160, 295
Bidault, Georges, French Foreign Minister 1944-6, 1947-8, 1953-4,
Prime Minister 1946, 1949, 1950, Deputy Prime Minister 1950, 1951,
1952, Minister of Defence 1951, 1952 268
Binding, Regierungspräsident (Senior government representative) in Hil-
desheim 123
Bismarck, Otto, Prince von, (1815-98) xxiv, 42-3
Bohle, Ernst Wilhelm, State Secretary (Permanent Secretary) of Foreign
Office, Head of Overseas Organization and in that capacity the 43rd
Nazi Party Gauleiter, SS-Obergruppen£uhrer, sentenced to five years
imprisonment in Nuremberg in 1949 58, 61, 288, 312
358 NAME INDEX
Boehme, Franz (1885- 1947), General of Mountain Troops, Wehrmacht

C-in-C Norway 1945, committed suicide while under arrest in Nurem-
berg 89
Bonomi, Ivanoe (1873-1951), Italian Prime Minister 1944-5 69, 101,
220
Borcke-Stargardt, Henning Graf von, member of Propaganda Minis-
try 144
Bormann, Martin (1900—45), Reichsleiter, Head of Party Chancellery,
designated Minister in Hitler's will, probably killed escaping from
Berlin xv, xx, xxii, xxiv, xxv, xxvi, xxxii, 61, 250, 269, 278, 282,
308
Braun, Eva xxxii
Burckhardt, Carl Jacob (i 891-1974), Swiss politician, historian and
author. League of Nations Commissioner in Danzig 1937—9, President
of International Red Cross 1944-8 222
Burgdorf, Wilhelm (1895- 1945), General of Infantry, Chief of Army
Personnel Office, senior aide to Hitler in succession to General
Schmundt, committed suicide in the Reich Chancellery i May
1945 123, 128, 237, 244
Busse, Theodor, General of Infantry, commander of Ninth Army
xxxi, 203, 207
Carlyle, Thomas (1795-1881) xxix, 2, 39, 102, 183, 215
Cerff, Karl, member of Propaganda Ministry 288
Chamberlain, Arthur Neville (1896-40), British Prime Minister 1937-40,
signatory of Munich Agreement in 1938 with Hitler, Mussolini and
Daladier 116
Churchill, Sir Winston Spencer (1874-1965) xxii-xxiü, xxvi, 7, 15,
16, 22, 30, 38, 44, 46, 57, 59, 61, 67, 69, 76, 86, 88, 94, 95, 108, 116,
I22n, 132, 141, 142, 149-50, 159, i6on, 164, 171, 190, 191, 193, 199,
204, 205, 219, 226, 237, 242, 246, 253, 259, 267, 274, 294, 295, 298, 305,
307, 312, 320
Clause witz, Carl von (1780^1831) 307
Conti, Dr Leonardo, Reich Minister of Health, State Secretary in Reich
and Prussian Ministry of the Interior, SS-Gruppenfuhrer 243
Degenkolb, Dr Gerhard 153
Dietl, Eduard (1890-1944), Colonel-General, killed in air crash 281
Dietrich, Dr Otto (1897- 1952), State Secretary in Propaganda Ministry,
Reich Press Officer of Nazi Party, sentenced in "Wilhelmstrasse Trial"
in 1949, released 1950 277, 280, 282, 290, 306
Dietrich, Sepp 1892-1966), founder member of the SS, by the end of the
(
war was Colonel-General in the Waffen-SS commanding 6 Panzer

Army, sentenced to twenty-five years imprisonment at Nuremberg,
released 1955 I7n, 23, 42, 64, 91, 124, 198, 245, 252, 253, 275, 280,
281 288
Dönitz, Karl, Grand Admiral, C-in-C of the Navy, designated Reich
President in Hitler's will, after Hitler's death formed "Acting Reich
Government" in Flensburg-Mürwik, sentenced at Nuremberg to ten
1
NAME INDEX 359
years imprisonment which he served in Spandau i, 128, 183, 197,

333. 334
Draeger, Dr Hans, head of Foreign Section of Propaganda Minis-
try 144
Eden, Robert Anthony - Earl of Avon from 1961 (1897-1977), British
Foreign Secretary 1937-8, 1940-5, 1951-5, Prime Minister
1955-7 7. 15. 21, 68, 142, 204, 205
Eggehng, Joachim Albrecht, Gauleiter of Halle-Merseburg, SS-
Obergruppenfiihrer, Oberpräsident (Government Representative) in
Merseburg 26, 27
Eisenhower, Dwight David (1890-1969), Supreme Commander Allied
Forces Europe 1943-5, President of United States 1953-61 49, 50,
56, 67, 76, 120, 121, 240-1, 257, 266, 304, 311
Ellgering, Theo, Burgomaster of Duisburg (?) 15 1-2
Fechner, Max (1892-1973), trade unionist, for a time Deputy President of
SociaUst Party (East Germany) and member of PoÜtburo xl
Fett, Colonel 315
Fischer, Dr, Head of Reich Propaganda Office in Würzburg 256
Fischer, Erich, Head of German Press Section in Propaganda Minis-
try 308
Fischer, Erwin, journalist xxxvii
Fischer, Dr Ludwig, SA-Brigadefiihrer, Governor of Warsaw Dis-
trict 5
Flynn, Edward J, American poUtician 212
and Reichsstatthalter (Reich Regent)
Forster, Albert (1902-54), Gauleiter
of Danzig and West Prussia, SS-Obergruppenfuhrer 91, 117, 176,
206
Franco y Bahamonde, Francisco (1892-1975), Spanish Head of State
1939-75 17. 199. 212, 220
Frank, Dr Hans (1900-46), Reich Minister 1934-9, Governor-General of
Poland 1939-45, executed in Nuremberg 45
Frank, Dr Walter, President of the Reich Institute for the History of the
New Germany in Berlin, committed suicide in 1945 135
Freisler,Roland 45n
Friedrich II of Prussia (Frederick the Great) (1712-86) xix, xxviii,
xxix, xxxiii, i, 2, 39, 81, 102, 183, 196, 215, 251, 307
Fromm, C-in-C of Replacement
Friedrich (1888- 1945), Colonel-General,
Army and Chief of Army Equipment, executed on 12 March 1945 for
his role in 20 July 1944 45, 72, 90, 127
Funk, Walter (1890-1960), Reich Minister of Economics 1937-45, sen-
tenced to life imprisonment in Nuremberg, released from Spandau for
health reasons in 1957 321
Galen, Clemens August Graf von (1878-1946), Bishop of Müns-
ter 316
Gaulle, Charles de (1890-1970), General, Head of Provisional Govern-
ment of the French Repubüc 1944-6, President of the Fifth RcpuWic
1958-69 31, 96, 268
360 NAME INDEX
Gerland, Karl, Gauleiter and Oberpräsident (Government Representative)

of Kurhessen 267, 299
Gneiscnau, August Wilhelm Anton Graf Ncidhardt von
(1760-1831) 26, 109
Goebbels, Magda, nee Ritschel, adopted Friedländcr, divorced wife of
Quandt (1901-45), married to Dr Joseph Goebbels in 193 1 xxi, 45,
83, 254, 317, 332, 333
Göhrum, Kurt, Lieutenant-General of Police, Senior Police Commander
in Berlin 125
Goring, Emmy, nee Sonncmann, Prussian actress, married to Hermann
Goring in 1935 2
Goring, Hermann (i 893-1946), Reich Marshal, C-in-C of the Luftwaffe,
Minister-President of Prussia, condemned to death at Nuremberg but
committed suicide xv, xix, xx, xxi, xxiv, xxviii, xxx, i, 2, 18, 26,
44, 64, 71, 89-90, 101, 106-7, 108, 113, 115, 126, 128, 133, 136, 166,
183, 184, 192, 196, 197, 198, 214, 228, 249, 251, 252, 279, 288, 289, 291,
309
Gottbcrg, Curt von, SS-Obergruppenfiihrer, General of Waffen-SS,
committed suicide in 1945 70, 153, 161, 214, 221
Graeser, Fritz Hubert, General of Armoured Forces 82
Greenwood, Arthur, British Labour Party politician, member of cabinet
on several occasions between 1929 and 1947 7, 268
Greiser, Arthur, Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of Gau Wartheland,
SS-Obergruppenfiihrer, executed in Poland in 1946 25, 63
Grigg, Sir James, British Minister of War 1942-5 132
Gritzbach, Dr Erich, Chef de Cabinet to Prussian Minister-
President 197
Grohe, Joseph, Gauleiter of Köln- Aachen 68, 265, 303
Groencr, Wilhelm (1867-1939), General and politician. Chief of Staff of
the German Armed Forces in 191 8, several times minister under the
Weimar Republic 219
Groza, Petru (i 884-1958), Rumanian pohtician, several times minister and
Prime Minister 31, 134
Guderian, Heinz (i 888-1954), Colonel-General, from 1943 Inspector-
General of Armoured Forces, in 1944-5 charged with supervision of the
Army General Staff 8, 17, 44, 50, 69, 253, 275, 276, 280, 309
Günschc, Otto, SS-Sturmbannfuhrer, personal aide to Hitler 245
Hadamovsky, Eugen, Head of Reich Propaganda Section of Nazi Party,
Head of Reich Broadcasting 27, 45
Haegcrt, Wilhelm, Head of Propaganda Section in the Propaganda Minis-
try 81
Hahnc, Franz, Obermeister 174, 308
Hanke, Karl (1903-45), Gauleiter of Lower "Silesia, designated
Rcichsfiihrcr-SS and Chief of the German Police in Hitler's will, killed
by Czechs in June 1945 (?) 35, 41, 63, 182, 251, 271, 299, 323
Harris, Sir Arthur Travcrs, British Air Marshal 120
Härtung, member of Gau headquarters Berlin 220
NAME INDEX 361
Hauenschild, Bruno Ritter von (1896-1953), Lieutenant-General, Com-

mandant of Berlin ID, 51, 117, 122-3
Hauptmann, Gerhart (i 862-1946) 288-9
Hausser, Paul, SS-Obergruppenfiihrer I7n, 281, 308
Heiber, Helmut, historian, biographer of Goebbels xxxvii
Hellmuth, Dr Otto, Gauleiter of Mainfranken, Regierungspräsident of
Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg 299
Herostratus 159
Hesse, Dr Fritz, counsellor in the Foreign Office 150, 155, 158, 193,
288
Hewel, Walther, Ambassador, Foreign Minister's Representative with the
Führer and Reich Chancellor 46, 193, 194
Hierl, Konstantin (1875- 195 5), Reich Labour Leader, Nazi Party Reich-
sleiter, member of cabinet 1934-45 323
Hildebrandt, Friedrich, SS-Obergruppenfiihrer, Gauleiter of Meck-
lenburg, Reichsstatthalter for Mecklenburg and Lübeck 261
Himmler, Heinrich (1900-45), Reichsfiihrer-SS, Reich Minister of the
Interior, C-inC of the Replacement Army and Chief of Army Equip-
ment, committed suicide on 23 May 1945 after being recognised in a
prisoner of war camp xv, xix, xx, xxv, xxvii, xxxi, iin, 17, 24n,
25n, 35n, 40, 64, jo-ipassim, 103, 104, 126-7, I37. 138, 145, 150, 191,
245, 248, 252, 278, 281, 291, 320
Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945) xv-xxxiii, xH, i, 2, 9, 11, I7n, 19, 23, 24,
25, 27, 34, 35, iO-6passim, 52, 61, 71, 73, 77, 82, 87, 89, 90, 91, 94, 96,
ioi-io;)<J55iw, 1 12-13, 121, 124, i26-9passim, 124-S passim, 145, 146,
150, 152, 154, 155, 158, 161, 164, 166, 176, 183, 184, 192-200 passim,
203, 206, 210, 212, 213, 214, 228, 233, 235, 236, 237, 242-S3passim, 258,
260, 261, 262, 266, 267, 269, 270, 2j $-82 passim, 285, 289, 290, 291,
308-9, 310, 312, i 1 4- 1 J passim, 320, 321, 323, }}i-4 passim
Hoffmann, Albert, SS-Gruppenfuhrer, Gauleiter of Westphalia
South 143, 192
Hofmeister, Georg, Major-General, City Commandant of BerUn 117
Hoepner, Erich (i 886-1944), Colonel-General, executed on 8 August
1944 following the abortive coup of 20 July 280
Horthy, Nikolaus (1868-1957), Admiral, Hungarian Regent
1920-44 173
Hube, Hans Valentin (1890- 1944), Colonel-General, killed in an air
crash 281
Hübner, Dr Rudolf, Lieutenant-General 94, 104, 127
Jacobs, Otto, secretary and stenographer at the Ministry of Propa-
ganda xxxvi
Jodl, Alfred (1890-1946), Colonel-General, head of OKW
Operations
Staff 1939-45, signed general surrender of the German Wehrmacht on
Dönitz' behalf on 7 May 1945, executed at Nuremberg 109, 248
Jüttner,Max, SS-Obergruppenfiihrer, head of SS operational head-
quarters 72, 90
Kaltenbrunner, Dr Ernst (1903-46), SS-Obergruppenfuhrer, Chief of the
302 NAME INDEX
Security Police and SS Security Service (SD), executed at Nurem-

berg 72
Kammhuber, Josef, Luftwaffe General, in charge of action against enemy
bombers from February 1945, General Plenipotentiary for jet aircraft
from March 1945, Inspector of West German Luftwaffe
1956-62 153
Kammler, Dr Hans, SS-Obergruppcnfuhrer, in charge of V-wcapons,
committed suicide in 1945 107, 249. 279, 310
Keitel, Wilhelm (1882- 1946), Field Marshal, Chief of OK 1938-45, W
executed in Nuremberg xxii, 70, 248, 278, 315
Kerensky, Alexander Fyodorovich (i 881-1970), Russian politician.
Minister President in 1 91 7, overthrown by the Bolshevists, an emigre
from 1918 31, 182, 235
Kersten, aide to Hitler (?) 314
Kesselring, Albert (1885-1960), Field Marshal, from March to May 1945
C-in-C West responsible for strategy in west Germany, after the war
held under arrest until 1952 87, 90, 105, Il4n, 137, 154, 184, 194,
210, 219, 236, 237, 247, 273, 275, 276, 286, 293, 294, 309
Kiehl, Walter, chief editor of the German Labour Front magazine Freude
und Arbeit 312
Klaas, Paul, Captain 33
Kleiner, General 72
Klopfer, Dr Gerhard, State Secretary in Party Chancellery, SS-
Gruppenführer 212
Knobelsdorf, Otto von. General of Armoured Forces 123
Koch, Erich, Gauleiter of East Prussia, Reich Commissar for the Ukraine
1941-4, executed in Poland in 1959 220, 305, 3o6n
Koiso, Kunaiki, Japanese Prime Minister 1944-5 50, 88
Koniev, Ivan Stepanovich, Soviet Marshal, Army Commander in the
Finnish war of 1939, conducted counter-offensive on the central front
1942-3, C-in-C Soviet occupation forces in Austria 1945, C-in-C War-
saw Pact forces 1955-60, C-in-C Soviet forces in Germany
1961-2 16
Körber, Gerd von. Deputy Gauleiter of Mecklenburg 123
Krämer, WiUi, senior official in Reich Propaganda Department 144
Krebs, Hans (i 898-1945), General of Infantry, last Chief of Staff of the
Army, committed suicide in the Reich Chancellery i May 1 945 276
Krosigk, Graf Schwerin von 10, 26, I22n, 206, 222, 244, 312
Krüger, Fritz, Captain, National-Socialist Leadership Officer with 9th
Army 146, 198
Küchler, Georg von (i 881-1968), Field Marshal, after the war under arrest
until 1953 280
Lammers, Hans xxii
Lasch, Otto (1893-1971), General of infantry, Fortress Commandant of
Königsberg 221
Laval, Pierre (1883-1945), French Prime Minister 1942-4, executed as
major collaborator 7
NAME INDEX 363
Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich (1870-1924) 31

Ley, Dr Robert (1890-1945), Nazi Party Reich Organizer, Leader of
German Labour Front, committed suicide while under arrest in
Nuremberg xv, 79, 90, 127, 134, 135, 136, 214, 243-4, 261, 269,
270, 278, 312
Liese, Kurt,General of Infantry 123
Lindbergh, Charles Augustus (1902-74), American aviator, Brigadier-
General, opponent of Roosevelt's policy of involvement 205
Linge, Heinz, Hitler's valet xxxvii
Lippmann, Walter (1889-1974), American columnist 259
Lloyd George, David (1863- 1945), British Prime Minister
1916-22 242
Lochner, Louis P (1887-1975), American columnist and his-
torian xxiiin, xxxvii
Lorenz, Heinz, the Führer and Reich Chancellor's Press Officer and in that
capacity deputy to Dr Otto Dietrich, the Reich Press Officer 277
Mäder, Hellmuth, Major-General, prisoner of war in Russia 1945-55,
Commandant of School of Infantry in Hammelburg 1957-60, Head of
Army Office in Köln until 1968, eventually Lieutenant-General 82
Mahler, Kreisleiter 79
Mahnke, Franz, Luftwaffe Engineer General 153
Maniu, Juliu, Rumanian statesman, leader of opposition to Marshal
Antonescu, condemned to death for treason in 1947 172
Mannerheim, Carl-Gustav Freiherr von (i 867-1951), Finnish Marshal,
President of Finland 1944-6 39, 62, 116, 235, 268
Manteuffcl, Hasso Freiherr von. General of Armoured Forces, com-
manded 5 Panzer Army during the Ardennes offensive and then 3
Panzer Army on the Eastern Front, member of the Bundestag
1953-7 127, 135
Marrenbach, Otto, senior aide to Reich Organization Leader, SS-
Brigadcfuhrer 90
Meczer, Andreas, Hungarian envoy in Berlin 173
Michael I, King of Rumania 1940-7, abdicated and moved to Switzer-
land 23
Mikolajczyk, Stanislaus (1901-66), Prime Minister of Polish
government-in-exile in London 1943-4, deputy Prime Minister in War-
saw 1945-7, took refuge in United States 100, 122, I72n, 205, 268
Model, Walter (1891-1945), Field Marshal, forced to surrender in the
"Ruhr pocket" on 18 April 1945, committed suicide 34, 42, 78, 105,
115, 135, 195, 204, 247, 248, 276
Molotov, Vyacheslav Michailovich, Soviet Foreign Minister 1939-49 and
1953-6, "banished" in 1957 122, 128
Mommsen, Theodor (1817-1903), German historian 307
Montgomery, SirBernard Law, Viscount Montgomery of Alamein from
1946 (1887-1976), British Field Marshal 6, 15, 57, 209, 218, 219,
226, 240, 266, 274
Morgenthau, Henry Jr (1856-1946), American Secretary of the Treasury,
364 NAME INDEX
in 1944 drafted the plan which bears his name visuahsing, among other
things, reduction of Germany to an agricuhural country 259,
294
Moyne, Lord (Walter Edward Guinness 1 880-1944), British statesman,
assassinated by Zionists 205
Müller, Georg Wilhelm ("Müller-Üslo"), personal staff officer to Goeb-
bels until 1940, seconded to Reich Commissar for Norway 1940-5 and
to C-in-C West in 1945 184, 192, 236, 286, 293-4
Murr, Wilhelm, Gauleiter and Reichsstatthaltcr of Wiirttemberg-
Hohenzollern 234
Mussehl, Fritz Leberecht, State Secretary (retd), Vice-President of Court
of Auditors of German Reich 175
Mussolini, Benito (1883-1945), Socialist Party functionary and journalist
1902-14, founder and "Duce" of Italian Fascist Party 1921, head of
government 1922-43, liberated by German paratroops after being
deposed and arrested, then headed Repubblica Sociale Italiana in Salo on
Lake Garda, killed by Italian partisans while trying to escape xxv,
ID, 78, 122, 134, 260, 268
Naumann, Dr Werner, (Permanent Secretary) in Ministry
State Secretary
of Propaganda xviii, 45, 73, 134, 228, 282, 291
Nettelbeck, Joachim (1738-1824), Prussian patriot, with Gneisenau and
Schill defended fortress of Kolberg against French siege in
1806-7 251
Nuncio of Berlin, see Orsenigo 173
Ondarza, von, doctor 197
Oppenhoff, Dr Franz, lawyer, became Oberbürgermeister of Aachen in
1944, assassinated in his house by a Werwolf commando on Palm
Sunday 1945 258
Orsenigo, Cesare (1873-1946), Papal Nuncio in Berlin 1930-46 173
Oshima, Baron Hiroshi, General, Japanese Ambassador in Berlin 23 5
Otte, Richard, official stenographer to Goebbels xxxvi-xxxviiipfl55im
Oven, Wilfred von, Press Officer to Goebbels xxxviii, xl
Paasikivi, Juho Kusti (1870- 1956), Finnish Prime Minister 1944-6, Presi-
dent of Finland 1946-56 62, 182, 211, 235
Parbel, Kurt, head of Film Section in Ministry of Propaganda 212
Patton, George Smith Jr (i 885-1945), American General, killed in a car
accident 218, 240, 286, 299
Paulus, Field Marshal Friedrich 34n, 5on
Pavelich, Ante (1889-1959), founder and Führer ("Poglavnik") of Cro-
atian Ustashi movement, installed as Head of State of Croatia by Ger-
many in 1 94 1 6 in, 62
Peltz, Dietrich, Luftwaffe General 153
Petain, Henri Phihppe (1856-1951), French Marshal, Head of State
1940-4, condemned to death in 1945 but sentence commuted to life
imprisonment by President de Gaulle 7
Petherick, W I5n
Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli, 1876-1958), Pope 1938-58, Papal Nuncio for
NAME INDEX 365
Bavaria 1917-25, Papal Nuncio for the German Reich 1920-9, Cardinal
Secretary of State 1930-9 100, 173, 212, 260
Prützmann, Hans-Adolf, SS-Obergruppenführer, General of Police, head
of Werwolf organisation, committed suicide in May 1945 289
Quandt, Harald, son of Magda Goebbels, killed in an accident in
1967 331. 332. 333
Radescu, Nikolaus, Rumanian Prime Minister 1944-5 8, 16, 88. 116,
142, 160, 172
Raeder, Erich (1876-1960), Grand Admiral, C-in-C of the Navy 1936-43,
sentenced to life imprisonment in Nuremberg, released from Spandau
for reasons of health in 1955 i
Ratschow, Dt Max, Professor of Medicine at the University of

Halle 207
Raubal, Angela, nee Hitler, widowed, married Hammitsch, a Dresden
architect. Hitler's step-sister 45
Reinecke, Hermann, General of Infantry, Head of General Wehrmacht
Office, Head of National-Socialist Leadership Staff in 222 OKW
Reinefarth, Heinz, SS-Gruppenfuhrer 282, 291
Reitsch,Hanna, test pilot 333
Remer, Major xxvii
Rendulic, Dr Lothar, Colonel-General 78
Reymann, Hellmuth, Lieutenant-General, Commandant of
Berlin 117, 122, 215
Ribbentrop, Joachim von (1893-1946), Ambassador in London 1936-8,
Reich Foreign Minister 1938—4.5, executed in Nuremberg xxiv.
xxvi, xxviii, xxx, xxxi, 46, 61, 64, 68, 71, 107, 150, 158, 175, 193, 211,
214, 228, 252, 288, 312-13
Roatta, Mario, Italian General, in 1943 Chief of Army Staff in Badoglio's
Provisional Military Cabinet 51, 69
Rodde-Hanau, Wilhelm, head of Reich propaganda in Hamburg 289
Rohm, Ernst (1887-1934), Chief of Staff of the SA from 1931, Minister
without Portfoho 1933, shot on 30 June 1934 during the "Rohm
putsch" 248
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (1882-1945), President of the United States
1933-45 xxvi, xxxi, 8, 16, 22-3, 38, 44, 46, 58, 59, 61, 88, 94. 95,
108, 116, 132, 158, i6on, 164, 181, 190, 191, 195, 199, 205, 212. 219.
258, 260, 274, 294, 295, 297, 298, 305, 307, 312, 313
Rosenberg, Alfred (1893 -1946), leader-writer for Völkischer Beobachter
1921, author of Der Mythos des XX
Jahrhunderts (1930), head of
Foreign Political Office of Nazi Party 1933, Reich Minister for
the Occupied Eastern Territories 1941, executed in Nuremburg
xix, 144, 161
Rshevskaya, Yclena, Soviet historian xl
Rundstedt, Gerd von (1875-1953), Field Marshal 6,57,87,90, 104-5.
114, 127, 141, 150, 158, 194, 247
Ryti, Risto, President of Finland 1940-4, arrested as collaborator but
released in 1949 39
366 NAME INDEX
Salazar, Antonio de Olivcira (i 889-1970), Prime Minister of Portugal

from 1936 222
Saracoglu, Sükrü, Turkish Prime Minister 1942-6 313
Sauckel, Fritz (1894- 1946), Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of Thuringia,
General Plenipotentiary for Employment of Labour from 1942,
executed in Nuremberg 235, 310
Saur, Karl-Otto, Head of Technical Branch in Ministry of Armaments,
designated as Minister of Armaments in Hitler's will 250, 251
Schach, Gerhard, office manager in Gau headquarters, Berlin 26, 95,
125, 166
Scharnhorst, Gerhard Johann David von (1756-1813) 26, 109
Schaub, Julius, SS-Obergruppenfuhrer, Personal Assistant to
Hitler 166, 253, 309
Schirach, Baldur von (1907-74), Reich Youth Leader 1933-40, Gauleiter
and Reichsstatthalter of Vienna 1940-5, sentenced in Nuremberg to
twenty years imprisonment which he served in Spandau 317, 323,
324
Schönfeld, Henning, Major-General 51
Schörncr, Ferdinand (i 892-1973), Colonel-General, Field Marshal from
5 April 1945, designated C-in-C of the Army in Hitler's will, prisoner
of war in Russia until 1955 23, 41, 64, 78, 80, 81, 97, loi, 102,
118, 125, 135, 138, 145, 154, 167, 176, 248, 252, 271, 281, 299, 309, 310,
324
Schulz, Friedrich, General of Infantry 308
Schwarz van Berk, Hans, leader-writer 27
Schwarzschild, Leopold, emigrated 1933, editor of the magazine Das
Tagebuch 121
Schwerin von Krosigk, Lutz Graf von (1887-1977), Reich Minister of
Finance 1932-45, confirmed in office in Hitler's will, head of "Acting
Reich Government" in 1945, sentenced to ten years imprisonment in
"Wilhelmstrasse Trial", released from Landsberg in 1951, head of
department in Bonn Institute of Finance and Taxation 1951-71
xxxin
SeifFe, Head of Reich Propaganda Office in Weser-Ems Gau 305
Semler, Rudolf xvin, xviiin, xxivn, xxvn, xxvi, xxviiin, xxxin,
xxxiin, i83n
Seydlitz-Kurzbach, Walther von. General of Artillery, prisoner of war in
Russia after surrender at Stalingrad, co-founder and head of "National
Free Germany Committee" 5on, 59, I42n, 211, 268
Shilenkov, General 9
Shinwell, Emmanuel, British Labour Party politician and states-
man 164
Sima, Horia 24n
Simon, Gustav, Gauleiter of Moselland Gau, Obergruppenführer in Nazi
Party Transport Corps, Head of Civil Administration in Luxemburg
1943 114, 115, 134, 144
Sinclair, Sir Archibald, British Secretary of State for Air 1940-5 57
NAME INDEX 367
Slesina, Horst, head of Reich propaganda office in the Westmark 232,

233, 289
Smuts, Jan Christiaan (1870-1950), Prime Minister of Union of South
Africa 1919-24 and 1939-48, created Field Marshal in 1941 313
Spaak, Paul Henri (1889-1972), Belgian Prime Minister 1938-9, 1946,
1947-9. Secretary-General of NATO
1957-61 274
Sparing, Rudolf, leader-writer for weekly newspaper Das Reich 32
Speer, Albert, Inspector-General for the Reich capital Berlin 1937, Reich
Minister for Armaments and War Economy 1942, sentenced in Nurem-
berg in 1946 to twenty years imprisonment which he served in Span-
dau xix, XX, xxiii, xxiv, xxv, xxviii, xxx, xxxi, xl, iin, 26, 51-2,
124, 135, 136, 152, 199, 213, 249-50, 251, 275, 276
Sprenger, Jakob, Gauleiter and Oberpräsident of Hessen-Nassau, Rcichs-
statthalter of Hesse, committed suicide in 1945 234, 304
Stadelmeycr, Peter xxix
Stalin, Josef Vissarionovich (1879-1953) xxx, xxxi, 8- }0 passim, i^.
16, 21, 31,38, 39, 4i-4passim, 50, 59, 60, 63, 71, 81, 100, 108, 1 16, 122,
133, 142, 150, 160, 165, 182, 190-1, 195, 199, 205, 210, 221, 237, 246,
253, 268, 287, 294, 295, 298, 305, 307, 313, 314
Stauffenberg, Lieutenant-Colonel Klaus. Graft von 45n
Steeg, Ludwig, Burgomaster of Berlin 125, 174
Steiner, Felix Martin, Waffen-SS General, SS-Obergruppenfiihrcr, com-
manded II Panzer Army from March 1945 17, 308
Stettinius, Edward Reilly (1900-49), American Secretary of State
1944-5 287, 322
Stimson, Henry Lewis (1867-1950), American Secretary of State 1929-33,
War Minister 1940-5 21
Stirbey, Prince Barbu, Rumanian politician and statesman 23, 31
Stöhr, Wilhelm, Gauleiter of Saar Gau 72, 180
Strasser, Gregor (1892- 193 4), took part in Hitler putsch, November 1923,
resigned from Nazi Party 1932, murdered during "Röhm
putsch" xvii, xviii
(i 885-1946), Gauleiter of Franconia 1925 (dismissed
Streicher, Julius
in founded the anti-semitic weekly Der Stürmer in 1923
1940),
and remained editor until 1945, executed at Nuremberg 277, 278. 280
Stroynowski, Dr Juliusz, Polish historian xl
Stuckart, Dr Wilhelm (1902-53), State Secretary
in Reich and Prussian
Ministry of the Interior, SS-Obergruppenfuhrer, sentenced to four
years imprisonment at Nuremberg in 1949 25, 32, 212
Student, Kurt, Colonel-General, C-in-C Parachute Troops in
1945 308
Stumpff, Hans-Jürgen, Colonel-General, commander of Air Fleet "Re-
ich" from 1943 309
Sündermann, Helmut, deputy to the Reich Press Officer, Dr Otto Diet-
rich 282, 291, 306
Suzuki, Baron Kantaro (1868-1948), Japanese Prime Minister in
1945 321, 322
1
368 NAME INDEX
Terboven, Josef, Gauleiter of Essen 1933, Reich Commissar in Norway

1940-5, committed suicide in 1945 88-9, 160
Tietjen, Heinz (1881-1967), director of Prussian State Theatre 1930-44,
Director Bayreuth Festival 1933-44, director of opera in Berlin and
Hamburg after 1945 270
Tito, Josip Brosz,Yugoslav partisan leader, Marshal and Prime Minister
from 1945, also President from 1953 61
Todenhöfer, Dr, official of the German Foreign Ministry 80-
Todt, Fritz I in, 26n, 221
Togo, Shigenori, Japanese Foreign Minister 1941-2 and 1945 321
Ulbricht, Walter xl
Vandenberg, Arthur Hendrik (1884-195 i), American politician. Senator
from 1928, Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee from 1946 297
Vansittart, Robert Gilbert, Lord Vansittart from 1941 (1881-1957), Per-
manent Under-Secretary in Foreign Office 1929-37, senior diplomatic
adviser to British government 1938-41 267
Vlasov, Andrei Andreyevich (1883-1954), Russian General, on German
side from 1942, executed in Moscow 8, 9, 10, 41, 62, 63
Vogelsang, Heinrich (1884-1954), appointed acting Burgomaster of
Rheydt Central by occupation authorities on i March 1945 94-5,
105, 258
Vyshinsky, Andrei Andreyevich (1883— 1954), Soviet Deputy Foreign
Minister 1940—9, 1953-4, Foreign Minister 1949-53 8, 31
Wächter, Werner, head of propaganda staff in Reich propaganda head-
quarters 144
Wagner, Kreisleiter of Königsberg 285, 305
Wagner, Robert, Gauleiter of Baden- Alsace, shot by the French in Stras-
bourg in 1946 285
Weiss, Walter, Colonel-General, C-in-C of Army Group North in
1945 130
Wenck, Walter, General of Armoured Forces, Commander 12th
Army 276
Wessel, Horst xviii, xxxiii
Weygand, Louis Maxime (1867-1965), C-in-C of French Army 1940,
interned in Germany 1942-5, arrested as collaborator 1945, rehabilitated
1948 219
Wiegand, Karl H. von, American journalist, senior correspondent of the
Hearst Press 8
Wilson, Thomas Woodrow (18 56- 1924), President of United States
1913-31 16
Zhukov, Grigori (1896-1974), Soviet Marshal, C-in-C Soviet Troops in
Germany 1945-6, Minister of Defence 1955-7, then relieved of his
post 17, 99
DAEMONIC MASTER OF WORDS...
'A
GOEBBELS' DIARIES MAKE ABSORBING READING.
On March 2 1945, he tries to stop all leave to
strengthen army discipline. A fortnight later he
embarks on the reorganisation and streamlining of the
battered Luftwaffe. By the end of March he is busy
organising the Werwolf movement of Nazi
guerilla groups.
torrent of words he takes leave of us, as the Soviet

In a
.'
tanks converge upon the doomed German capital . .
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
This volume presents the material surviving from the

period between February 27 and April 9 1945 - the
period of the collapse of the Third Reich.
Goebbels' Diaries from the bunker are a hot line
from "two seconds to midnight"
\ THE GUARDIAN
\ WAR/HISTORY
\ 330 25883 4
'
- U.K. £1.95
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/ M v

The Goebbels Diaries

translated from the German by

Pan Books London and Sydney

shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold,

condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

Introduction by Hugh Trevor-Roper xv

A talk with Hitler in the Reich Chancellery - Criticism

Wednesday 28 February 1945 4

Thursday i March 1945 13

International press reaction to the Yalta Conference —

Friday 2 March 1945 20

place— Power supply in Berlin becoming worse —

Strikes in the USA and Britain — No more evacuation

Sunday 4 March 1945 36

Monday 5 March 1945 47

Tuesday 6 March 1945 54

Wednesday 7 March 1945 65

Churchill with British troops on the Rhine — Goebbels*

Thursday 8 March 1945 74

Friday 9 March 1945 84

Saturday 10 March 1945 92

Sunday 11 March 1945 99

Monday 12 March 1945 iii

Uninterrupted air terror makes the people thoroughly

every evening for three weeks — The Foreign Office

Tuesday 13 March 1945 119

StaUn's 300 Orders of the Day — "A unique calendar of

Wednesday 14 March 1945 130

English bishops warn against the bolshevisation of

Thursday 15 March 1945 139

Starvation in enemy-occupied regions - Soviet mili-

Friday 16 March 1945 147

Saturday 17 March 1945 156

"Herr von Ribbentrop's peace soundings have been a

Sunday 18 March 1945 162

"A solitary piece of good news" — the collapse of the

Monday 19 March 1945 168

The Saar territory nearly lost - Churchill "about

Tuesday 20 March 1945 178

The food crisis everywhere is reaching an intolerable

Wednesday 21 March 1945 186

Europe is only possible under German leadership" —

Thursday 22 March 1945

Friday 23 March 1945

Saturday 24 March 1945

British troops cross the Rhine on a broad front —

Sunday 25 March 1945

Monday 26 March 1945 230

"We are poor folk and have only limited resources

Tuesday 27 March 1945 238

Wednesday 28 March 1945 255

Thursday 29 March 1945 263

A "frenzy of rejoicing" in the enemy camp — Stock

Friday 30 March 1945 272

Saturday 31 March 1945 283

Hopes of the German war - Ribbentrop's

Sunday i April 1945 292

Recourse must be had to political means to counter the

Tuesday 3 April 1945 301

Loss of confidence among the people owing to the

morale - Goebbels' Six-Point directive for the German

Saturday 7 April 1945 311